Spitfire
by Reamis
Summary: Poll concerning sequel added, please vote guys. Thanks. FINALLY FINISHED! READER POLL UP! REVIEW!
1. Enter Spitfire

**Reamis doing a serious piece? Surely not, no!**

**Well, I am, this has been floating around in my head for weeks or months and has become incredibly complicated, so here it is.**

**The O.C. (not really sure what that means, original character?) is not me, as some people tend to do. But there are aspects of me in there, like the nationality (I love writing a British person into American settings, I don't know why, any suggestions?) and a few powers I wouldn't mind having.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Titans or anything affiliated, I do, however, own Charly and the story, as it's been kicking in my head for ages.**

A flash and a clap of thunder marked the beginning of the storm, it had been raining for a solid 4 hours gradually increasing in intensity until breaking point. Thunder was no doubt having the time of his life.

An alarm, loud enough to be heard from outside, was blaring in the Tower, but was almost unheard over the sound of the rain on the windows, trouble in the city.

'_Why does it have to be on a night like this?'_ Beast Boy thought, running to the garage and the T-car, ready as ever to fight whatever trouble-maker was creating chaos in his city.

'Reports say that the police engaged the perp, but he seemed to be either teleporting or moving incredibly fast.' Robin explained through his communicator from the R-cycle, slipping into crime-fighting mode, 'They also say that it's just a kid, and he seems confused.'

Pulling up on the bridge they spotted the trouble area, police cars surrounded a teenage boy, who was looking frantically around and occasionally flailing out at officers.

'Titans, go!' Robin sprinted towards the scene, raising his staff, jumped from the hood of a cop car and landing in front of the boy in a fighting stance.

'We don't want to hurt you kid,' Robin started, as the other Titans formed behind him, 'Just calm down and come with us.'

'I don't know how I got here!' The boy shouted frantically, his British accent almost unnoticeable, Robin took another step 'Don't come any closer!' The boy shouted and moved to run, but was stopped by Robin, who hadn't heeded the warning.

The fist hit his stomach with an intensity the Boy Wonder didn't expect and the boy was over the cars and moving away, in the direction the Titans has come.

'Don't you be touchin' my car!' Cyborg aimed his sonic cannon at the retreating attacker as he ran past the T-car, he dodged the blast, moving sideways at an incredible speed.

The boy turned in time to see two balls of green energy flying towards him.

'_How did I get into this?'_ He asked himself,_ 'Wait, this is why I came, to meet the Titans. Meet, not fight, but what the hell, make the most of what you've got.'_

Cyborg was surveying the cloud of smoke where Starfire's attacks had struck ground when a figure charged from the centre, landing a punch on Cyborg's chest, the effect of which was a loud clang and an attacker clutching his hand.

'Gonna have to do better then that ki…' Cyborg was cut off as he noticed the boy was horizontal in the air, at the apex of a small jump.

Landing both feet onto the Half man-Half machine's chest and pushing with all his strength, the figure took off from the fallen foe and towards the other Titans

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Sensing a presence behind him as he ran, he turned, poised to strike until he spotted his pursuer.

'Damn my chivalry!' He cried as he lowered his fist, unable to strike at the female Titan before him.

'You aren't going to attack?' Raven asked, slightly wary.

'In all fairness it was your leader who wouldn't heed my warning, so he started this.' The stranger explained fluently.

'Dude, he's just stood there, why isn't Raven hitting him?' Beast Boy asked irately.

'They're talking, maybe we can get an explanation as to why he's here.' Robin never took his eyes off the two as they spoke.

'They're coming over here!' Beast Boy seemed to be getting worried.

'Good evening, Titans, well, not really a good one considering the weather, but it seemed the right thing to say.' He pushed a strand of soaking wet hair from his eyes, the irises of which were a vivid red.

'Who are you and why are you causing trouble?' Robin asked, semi-calmly.

'My name is Charly, as I have been trying to explain I don't know how I got here, also Beast Boy looks cold, maybe we should discuss the somewhere dry?' the stranger, Charly, directed his comments at Robin who for a while was taken aback at this persons use of Beast Boy's name. Then again, every villain knew who the Titans were.

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'Do you think it's safe to bring him back with us?' Robin's voice over the communicator, blasting into the car containing Cyborg, Beast Boy, Starfire, Raven and now Charly, sounded a little apprehensive.

'The dude explained why he attacked us, he even apologised for hitting you, also he seems to be injured, so I can see to him when we get back.' Cyborg reasoned.

'Fine, I'll meet you in the medical bay. Out.' Robin's voice cut out.

Back at the Tower.

'I'm just gonna check you over for any internal injuries, that cut needs a bandage but apart from that you seem fine.' Cyborg was tapping at a keyboard in the wall.

'We have questions for you.' Robin stated unceremoniously.

'Can they wait?' Charly asked with a small grimace as Cyborg knocked the cut on his side.

'No.'

'Then ask away.' Charly sighed.

'What are you doing here and why were the police saying you broke into a jewellery store?' Robin moved forward a little and Charly seemed to cower ever so slightly.

'I'm not gonna attack you.' Robin seemed surprised by the reaction he just witnessed.

'I was here to see you guys, actually but as I was walking past a jewellery store I had this stabbing pain in my head. That happens sometimes,' He dismissed when Robin's expression shifted, he thought unnoticeably, to one of concern, 'this time was different though, after that I remember falling into the window, it broke and after that nothing but flashing lights, pain from this wound and then you guys attacking me.' He looked around, sheepishly.

'So, why did you want to see us?' Raven asked, getting slightly impatient with the newcomers digressions.

'I thought you could help me out.' Charly addressed her.

'With what?' Robin asked hurriedly. The constant back and forth of people talking seemed to be stressing the teen on the bed, but he took a breath to calm himself.

'With this.' He lifted his hand and a small flame sprung, seemingly out of nowhere and flickered around in the wind.

'I can control it quite well, if I say so myself, colour, shape, heat even, I can make cold fire, go on, touch it.' He held it out to the Titans, Beast Boy being the only one brave or stupid enough to believe him stuck his finger out.

'Dude, it's cool!' He shouted, putting his whole hand into the flame and gasping as the soothing temperature enveloped his arm.

'Yes, very.' Charly replied.

'How powerful… well, big can you make it?' Cyborg seemed intrigued.

'As powerful as I can without it draining my energy completely.' Charly had made a little replica of Cyborg with his other hand, which was strutting around the table, firing (literally) off a small cannon from his arm, the product of which was actually blue.

'Wow!' Everyone was suitably impressed

'Yes. Also, I can make it solid, so I can stand on it, in case I'm too lazy to walk and I can change the pitch of the sound the flame makes.' He was preoccupied with making little replicas of all the Titans.

'Huh? Why would you need to do that?' Beast Boy asked.

'So I can trick people with sound.' Shouted his little replica from the bed, in his own voice.

'Woah!' He moved to poke his doppelganger but remembered it was fire, no touchy.

'So, what did you want with us?' Robin didn't seem impressed with the little display.

'Well, erm… heh.' Charly floundered, then made a tiny replica of himself, it was Chibi styled you might say, which sidled up to the Titan replicas, looking very embarrassed.

'I was wondering if I could, y'know, join you.' His replica said.

'Sure, why not!' The Fire-Robin shouted and they all vanished in a puff of smoke.

Charly opened his eyes to see Cyborg and Beast Boy nodding like maniacs, Starfire still smiling over her Fire-Self and Robin smiling ever so slightly at the hopeful reaction Charly had created for his own Fire-Self.

'Anything else we should know?' He asked, not giving anything away.

'Erm.. I have some small control over how time effects me.' Charly added, as though remembering.

'What does that entail?' The Boy-Wonder queried.

'Well, when I do it time, to me, seems to slow down, to everyone else I seem to be moving very quickly. It gets to a point where time stops on my side and it seems that I'm teleporting to everyone else, but it takes a lot out of me.' He explained. 'Also, I can sense energy.'

'Huh?' Beast Boy was still hoping that another fiery version of himself would show up.

'Like, I can tell if someone's coming into the room because of how their energy… Feels I guess, and it's helpful if someone's lying too, the energy from a statement that's true is different to a lie, even if the person doesn't know it isn't true it still registers.'

'So you're slightly empathic?' Raven asked.

'To a degree, yes.' Charly flashed his red eyes around the room and for the first time everyone noticed how they sparkled with… something, laughter? There was something else there as well.

Beast Boy recognised the feeling he got from the boy, almost the same as he got from Raven when she wasn't in the best of moods.

'We'll consider.' Robin said as he left the room. 'But you need rest now.'

The Titans filed out.

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Charly awoke to sun streaming through a window.

'_Argh, dammit! What time is it?' _His mind asked, but his body was still screaming from having to be awake.

He flipped over to see the table next to the bed he was in, on it was a clock and something yellow. Grabbing the yellow device, Charly felt his spirit soar, they had accepted him. He could stay!

'_No more running, try to stay here for good.' _His mind berated him

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The door slid open to reveal Charly wearing exactly what he had been wearing last night, but the clothes seemed clean now, and his bandage was uncomfortable.

'Morning, new Titan.' Cyborg said happily, noticing that the newcomer was still holding the communicator.

'How long was I out?' Charly asked, pushing his unruly hair from his eyes.

'_I still can't get over how vivid they are.' _Raven's mind shouted when she saw the newest addition to the team.

'About two days, long enough for us to decide you should stay. You could be useful, so welcome to your new home.' Robin had put down his paper to greet the boy.

'I don't know how to thank you.' Charly began.

'No time for that, wanna see your room?' Beast Boy was very excited, he obviously had a hand in decorating.

'Sure.' He was grabbed by both Starfire and the changeling and dragged down the hallway towards a door.

On the door was written the name 'Spitfire'

'Spitfire? Who's that?' Charly asked.

'That is your new 'hero' name, do you not like it?' Starfire asked, floating next to the confused Charly.

'Sure, but why Spitfire? I know, the fire thing but…' he was cut off as BB explained.

'Well, you're name is spelled like the name of a Prodigy track, so I decided to stick with that theme, and it just fit.' He spat out 'I kinda looked you up on the computer, and found out about the spelling, but I didn't look at anything else, promise.' He finished.

The hiss of the hydraulic door brought their attentions back to the present as the room was revealed.

The walls and ceiling were black, with a flame motif around the bottom of the walls, the floor a deep red, a double bed ('you're a big guy') at one end, and a stereo on a table nearby.

'Cool, you even got me a Hi-fi!' Charly was very impressed.

'So, you likey?' Beast Boy asked, leaning forward.

'Yes, it's… I don't have a word.' He finished lamely.

'Glorious?' Starfire offered her favourite jubilation.

'Perfect.' Charly shouted. 'Yep, it's glorious.'

Back in the common room, Robin was waiting for his new team-mate to get back.

'There you are, just wanted to tell you we're training tomorrow, but for today you can maybe get your bearings around the tower. Raven, show him around would you?' He shouted as Charly entered.

'Sure, not like I was doing anything.' She slammed her book shut. 'Follow me.' With that she swept from the room, Charly in tow.

'Cyborg's room, Robin's room, Starfire's room, Beast Boy's room, my room.' She pointed at the doors with the respective names on. 'Note to the wise, don't go in my room. Ever.' and she continued.

'Training room, with gym obviously, and there's plenty of other places, but they're mainly storage.'

She set off back to the common room and her book.

'Thanks!' Shouted Charly, and went back to his room.

'_My room. That sounds weird after a year of sleeping where I could.'_ He thought, flopping onto the bed.

'I can't believe I'm here.' He said out loud.

'Finally.'

**So, Review me, please!**

**Say anything you like, and await the next chapter.**

**Until then, stay wonderful.**

**Reamis.**


	2. New Beginnings

**Chapter 2. New Beginnings.**

**Also, only two reviews, but I'm grateful for them.**

**PoweroftheFrogs: Yes, Spitfire is very similar to Starfire, and now you've pointed it out I may even mention it in the story. Thanks.**

**SHSW360: Thank you, I've actually popped into one of your stories 'Welcome to my world, the REAL world' You write well. As for the Brit OC hero. Well, I couldn't leave our fair land represented by Moddy, could I? Good luck with the actual publication thingamy.**

**Disclaim! I don't own the Titans! Testify!**

Sunlight, most predators use it to hunt. We use it's energy to power our appliances (directly or indirectly) and were it not around we would freeze to death, but still we hide from it in the morning.

That is exactly what Charly, known as Spitfire to his team-mates, was doing, head under a sheet, avoiding looking at the unwelcome intruder.

'_Curtains! Next time don't just fall asleep without pulling them!'_ His mind scolded

He forced himself out of his new bed and landed with a thud on the floor. Rubbing his backside he moved to the bathroom that was connected to his room.

'They went out of their way for me. I'm flattered. What's missing? Ah, music. I wonder what they gave me.' He flicked a finger at the stereo in his room and a small, hard and cold flame hit the play button. The Prodigy's Spitfire blared out of the speakers as Charly stepped into the shower.

'_At least Beast Boy has some taste in music.' _He thought to himself.

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'Man, no-one wants your gross tofu!' Cyborg shouted, waving the tofu high above his head.

'Dude, no fair, you're really tall!' Beast Boy was jumping up and down frantically, trying to obtain his breakfast.

The hydraulics of the door hissed as the newest Titan shuffled in, again wearing exactly what he had been wearing since he had met the original Titans.

He eyed the battling boys before moving to the fridge, greeting everyone on his way, grabbing something from the fridge and ingesting it faster than should be allowed.

'What was that?' Cyborg asked, arm still in the air.

'Dunno, tasted like tofu though. S'good stuff.' Charly replied, flashing the metal man a smile.

'Uh… ok.' Cyborg's arm dropped in defeat as Beast Boy's eyes widened in disbelief.

'You like tofu?' He asked.

'Sure, why wouldn't I?' Charly locked eyes with the changeling.

'How did your eyes get to be red?' Beast Boy asked the pyrokinetic, forgetting the tofu.

'Just changed overnight, later I found out about the whole fire thing.' Charly replied, moving to the couch.

'You know, I don't know anything about this team other than you fight psychos and monsters. So, Titans History 101, fill me in.' He said taking a seat at the other end of the couch to Raven, partly because he sensed she liked her space, partly through fear, he could feel an immense power under the surface and was wont to get too close.

'Ok, sure!' Beast Boy ran over, clutching what looked to be a photo album.

'I'll start with this guy, he's called Slade and back then he was obsessed with Robin…'

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'…And everything living in the world was turned to stone!' Beast Boy paused for dramatic effect, allowing an awed Charly to jump in.

'I remember that, everyone was stone and I was wondering around thinking 'What the hell?'' He told the now fully assembled team.

'It didn't effect you?' Raven asked, Charly could feel the curiosity pouring off her. For a girl who keeps her emotions hidden, they sure were vivid.

'Nope, don't know why.' Charly gestured to Beast Boy to continue, as he had taken up the role as sole story-teller with other Titans jumping in to add their bit at points.

'Anyway, it looked like Trigon had won when Slade turned up again and this time he was actually offering us a way to get Raven back…'

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'…and then four nights ago, during the storm the alarm went off and we met you.' Beast Boy ended with a flourish.

'Wow.' Was all Charly could manage, totally awed by the adventures of his team.

'Do you have any other clothes?' Robin asked, seemingly out of nowhere.

'Only what you found me in, so no.' Charly fiddled with the collar of his T-shirt.

'Then we must show you the mall of shopping!' Starfire leapt up and dragged him out of the room.

'But I'm penniless!' He complained.

'We'll loan you, you can't wear the same thing over and over.' Beast Boy had somehow managed to keep up as well as completely overlooking the irony of his statement.

Three hours later Charly had a wardrobe full of clothes, most dark, with the occasional bright green, orange or fluorescent yellow shirt, to add variety.

Whilst he was out Robin had demanded that they make him wear a uniform, he couldn't fight in something different every time, it wouldn't be practical.

The design was a relatively tight top (thankfully not lycra), black with a flame motif, dark trousers in the same material (it was like lycra but not as garish) a simple belt and large boots, similar to Robin's own.

To this Charly added a thin leather jacket which he said was like extra protection, but it was simply so he could throw it off dramatically during a fight.

Modelling in front of the mirror in his room he was suitable impressed.

'_Nice, stylish and the jacket doesn't make it look bulky at all, in fact it's so thin it gets caught by the wind, very dynamic.'_ He turned to view the back_. 'I like!'_

At that moment a red light started flashing, a siren was blaring and the middle of Charly's belt was flashing red.

'Spitfire! Trouble, come on!' He heard Robin yell outside his door. He threw it open and followed Robin's retreating form to the garage and the T-car.

He dived in after Beast Boy and slammed the door, Cyborg immediately took off at high speed towards the biggest gym in the city.

As they pulled up a weight smashed through a window and landed on a car outside.

'Adonis.' Robin's voice said over the comm.

'Let me guess, with a name like Adonis he's very strong?' Spitfire asked unenthusiastically

'Yep, but it's all in his suit, he's actually a skinny little guy.' Cyborg explained.

Piling into the gym, the Titans formed on Robin, who had his Bo-staff ready, as usual.

'This is a great workout!' Adonis shouted, laughing and lifting three huge weights with one of his machine covered arms.

'Ah, I see now he must have read his name on the side of a weight set. Not all that bright.' Spitfire flexed his fingers, making an unpleasant cracking sound.

'Hey it's theTitans, who's this wimp?' He asked pointing at Spitfire.

'The name's Spitfire. Apparently. Ready to feel the burn?' He asked the towering mech-suited man.

'Ha, you think you're stronger than Adonis?' He cracked his knuckles, almost as loud as Spitfire had his.

'Don't need to be.' The newest Titan smiled and was instantly engulfed in red flames, still visible, his longish hair was on end, held up by the effect of the fire and his red irises glowing intensely.

'What is this?' Adonis backed off a little, startled by the sudden spectacle. He picked up a weight and made to slam it into the fiery teen's face.

The weight struck the fire surrounding the boy and melted immediately, a loud hissing sound and a pool of molten metal the only signs it was ever there.

Adonis stumbled back, but Spitfire was up in his face instantly.

Smiling, he plunged his flaming hand into the chest of the suit and pulled downwards, ripping the suit in two to expose the tiny man inside.

Spitfire stepped back, his hair dropping back down as his flames died. He sighed and blew a strand from his eyes which were still glowing, though not as intensely.

'Dude!' Beast Boy cried, 'We didn't even have to move and you took him down in like three seconds!'

'That was great, it's been a while since I went full-blaze, it's like hearing your favourite song on the radio after a year or so.' Spitfire moved to leave as the police moved in to take Adonis into custody.

'Anyone want pizza? I'm buying!' He shouted, opening the door of the T-car.

'I thought you said you had no money.' Beast Boy eyed him suspiciously.

'All right, I lied… Beast Boy's buying.' The door slammed and Beast Boy was left defeated and out of pocket.

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'This city… Has the best… Pizza ever!' Charly **(Spitfire on missions, Charly in the Tower)** flopped onto the couch, the sky had grown dark and a blood red moon had risen.

'Ooh, Blood-moon! Good night for Necromancy.' He observed. 'I read lots of fantasy stuff.' He added, by way of an explanation when he caught the Titans staring at him.

'Hey, you know, we told you our history, how about some of yours?' Beast Boy vaulted the couch, landing next to his new friend.

'Ok then. I was born in the north of England, had a pretty standard upbringing, discovered I had powers and then decided to travel, now I'm here, hopefully for good.' He said, though his smile had disappeared.

'What? That's it, come on, there's something you're not saying, why did you decide to travel?' Beast Boy pressed, Charly seemed to be getting uncomfortable.

'I'd rather not say.' He said, turning away.

'Dude, come on, I'm not going to stop until you tell me. Come on!'

'I said NO!' Something exploded in a ball of flame, it was the game station, the charred remains of which now lay scattered about the room.

'Woah, déjà vu.' Beast Boy said, staring around, then back at Charly, whose eyes were glowing intensely again.

'I'm sorry. My powers are controlled by my emotions, if I get really angry they go into overdrive. I should leave.' He got up and walked out.

The Titans watched him leave, then Robin turned to Raven.

'You should go talk to him.' He told her.

'Why me?' She asked, indignantly.

'Because that's what used to happen with you when you got angry.' He indicated the piece of burnt plastic on the floor in front of him. 'His powers are almost the same as yours, you can help him deal with them.' This discussion was over, that was clear.

Raven sighed and stood.

Sitting on his bed, Charly had thrown his Aphex Twin CD (he bought it at the mall, with BB's money) on and was listening to 'Come to Daddy' with his eyes closed, so Raven thought he didn't know she had entered.

'Hello Raven.' He said, turning the music off and opening his eyes.

'Uh, hi… I was here to… see how you were doing.' She lied, badly.

'I didn't even need my powers to know that was a lie.' Charly said, but he was smiling.

'Fine, Robin wants me to help you control your powers, but from what I saw today, it doesn't seem like you need it.' She reasoned.

'They only go out of control if I get really emotional, so it's rare.' He glanced at her after deciding his shoes weren't all that interesting. 'What did you think today, by the way? I mean was it a bit excessive, or was it awesome?' He turned to face her properly.

'It was… Effective.' She said in a non-committal way.

'But did you think it was impressive?' He asked her.

'No.' She said.

He cocked an eyebrow, she noticed how effective that can be at making you feel stupid, normally it was her that did it.

'Even if they don't know it isn't true, Raven. Remember?' He asked her with a snicker.

She looked at him for a while, taking in his appearance properly for the first time.

He had brown almost blackhair that was maybe an inch and a half away from shoulder length, it seemed not to like the fact the he tried to control it and was rebelling by being as unruly as possible. His eyes, that vivid red colour holding a laughter to match or surpass Beast Boy, but there was something else there too, beneath the surface. Sadness?

As though reading her mind he spoke up.

'Everyone has their stories, not all have happy endings.' He said, philosophically.

'Wanna tell us yours?' She asked him.

'No offence, but I've only known you guy for four or five days.' He said without breaking eye contact.

The uniform suited him well, the Titans yellow 'T' logo took up very little room and wasn't garish, in fact it went with the flame motif quite well. Robin had some style, though his own outfit didn't show it.

After a scrutinising look she finally broke her gaze away.

'You have beautiful eyes, you know that?' Charly complimented.

'Uh… Thanks. I'm gonna go.' Raven pulled up her hood and left the room.

Charly sighed again and hit the play button, the theme from 'The Matrix Reloaded' started and he pulled out his pad, the only other thing he carried with him besides his lighter and a pen, flipping over a page, he wrote the heading: 'First Impressions are Never Great' and scribbled down random words. This was how he stopped himself blowing everything up, it was his meditation and at this poin the needed it. Badly.

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'How is he?' Cyborg asked Raven as she entered the room.

'Fine.' She said simply, _'Yes, very.' _Someone in her mind said. _'Woah, where did that come from? I can't be feeling this, he said it himself, I only met him four days ago.'_

She picked up her book and proceeded to read: 'The blood-moon, this was a fine night for necromancy,…'

'I need to meditate' she hurriedly said, and rushed to her room.

**There you go.**

**Before anyone says anything, yes, the description of Spitfire's 'Full-Blaze' state is stolen from Dragon Ball.**

**PoweroftheFrogs, I lied about putting your idea in, maybe next chappie.**

**Don't worry, the pairing (RaexOC) will become very clear in later chapters, it's not a real pairing, just confused feelings.**

**Review me, thanks.**

**Reamis.**


	3. Unlikely Sensei

**Chapter 3**

**I didn't wait for reviews, I just wanted to get this done, it's burning my head.**

**Disclaimer: You know the drill.**

A ball of screwed up paper hit the wall and fell to the floor, accompanied by the slightly frightening 'Come to Daddy' by Aphex Twin.

The thrower of the paper was one Charly of the Teen Titans, who couldn't seem to get anything to fit properly.

'Damn!' He shouted, ripping his next piece out of his notebook and throwing it on the floor.

'This isn't helping at all!' He shouted louder and his notebook burst into flames.

'This day just gets better.' He said, slightly calmer. He hopped from his bed and shut off the stereo, the sudden silence after the loud noise creating a ringing in his ears.

'_I'll go for a walk, clear my head.' He thought._

Stepping into the common room he found no-one so created a small Fire-Self, left him the message and wandered out to explore the city.

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It was windy, but not unpleasantly cold **(English, remember? Always cold here, we just grade it on how bitter it is)** and the streets weren't crowded.

Strolling casually he flipped on his MP3 player, 'Vindicated' by Dashboard Confessional blared from the earphone, he left one ear free, to hear trouble and avoid slipping into a lethargic 'listening to music' state.

Passing a electronics store, he spotted a news report on the recent defeat of Adonis, a shot of the Titans in formation, with him at the back and the words 'Titans succeed again' stamped over it.

People were stopping, presumably because someone else had and random snippets of conversation came to Charly's ears, he took out his earphone and listened.

'They got a new Titan, y'know?' Said a man somewhere.

'…They call him Spitfire, sounds a little like Starfire, maybe they're related.' A girl was saying.

'No way,' Her friend countered, 'He's not an alien, he's British.'

'Does he have a cute accent?' The first girl asked.

'Yeah and he's hot too.' The second blurted.

'I don't know, look at his hair,' She said pointing to the video that was now playing of Spitfire's defeat of Adonis, 'It looks so messy.'

'That's a sign of an uncontrollable personality.' They were now arguing openly about Charly, who was blushing slightly.

'She's right, you know,' He turned to the girls, 'Whenever I write someone bursting with barely contained playfulness and full of life, I tend to give them uncontrollable hair.' He finished, blowing a strand of his own from his eye.

'No one asked you, cree… Wait, say something else!' The first girl demanded.

'I tend to think that everyone is staring at me even when I know they're not?' He offered.

'Oh my God! It's him!' She was pointing at the video clip, which now showed Spitfire in Full-Blaze (which, he admitted himself, he came up with after watching a Japanese anime and thinking it looked like a good display of power.) 'He looks just like him!'

'It's Spitfire! Omigod, can I have an autograph?' She was practically fainting.

'Erm… Sure, I'll just find a pen.' He immediately reached for the pen he kept in his back pocket at all times.

She thrust some kind of paper at him and he scribbled his name on.

'Who's it to?' He asked now smiling, over the initial shock of being asked.

'Gemma!' The girl said to him, fighting the urge to jump up and down until she noticed he had stopped writing and was staring into the middle distance. 'What's wrong?' She asked.

'Uh? Oh, nothing, I had a friend named Gemma back home, doesn't matter.' He finished his note which read 'To Gemma, the first person to actually ask for my autograph. Spitfire.'

'It's been an utter pleasure, but I must go,' He said after signing a few more bits of paper. He took Gemma's hand and kissed it dramatically. 'I bid you adieu.' For sheer dramatic effect he created a surge of cool fire, then used his relative time-dilation power to leave before anyone noticed. Effectively, he disappeared in an inferno.

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Strolling in through the door, looking very pleased with himself, Charly was instantly accosted by an annoyed looking Robin.

'Where have you been? We were supposed to be training an hour ago.' He berated.

'Didn't my double tell you?' Charly gestured to his Fire-Self, which was currently preoccupied with watching the flames in it's own arm undulate.

'Yes. I guess I'll let you off, you're new and you aren't used to the training regime yet.' Robin backed off a little as Charly waved the fire-double out of existance. 'What's got you in such a good mood?' He asked, suddenly.

'I have fan-girls, already!' Charly shouted over his shoulder, moving towards the gym, 'Coming or not? I'm waiting for you.' He teased.

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Cyborg was in the corner lifting weights with Starfire, he was trying to keep up while she lifted multiple tons, seemingly without effort.

Robin had got Raven and Beast Boy sparring, Raven seemed to be winning, until Beast Boy became a T-rex.

'Right, time to spar!' Robin shouted, gesturing to the mat.

'I only know a little martial arts, nothing to touch your skill.' Charly stalled.

'Doesn't matter.' Robin had already charged forward, fist raised.

'Whoa!' Charly shouted, narrowly dodging the blow, he moved to the other side of the ring/mat and moved into his favourite fighting stance, Dragon Fist. **(Even if it's not a real style, it is in this world.)**

As Robin moved in again, covering the last few paces with a flying kick Charly slowed time to around half speed, caught Robin's leg and spun him back to his original position.

A green gloved fist was flying towards his face almost immediately, he barely had time to slow time, let alone block the blow, he continued to block punches in slow-motion until Robin backed off, and began to speak. Charly reverted to original speed.

'You're too fast, I can't even land a hit.' He was gasping and looking in disbelief, all the Titans were now watching.

'Yes, you can. But I noticed you're trying too hard, you're forcing your technique instead of flowing with whatever I do. My speed shouldn't be a factor at all.' He looked at the confused leader, who was open-mouthed at the martial arts advice coming from the newbie.

'How can you give me advice when you said you're skills couldn't touch mine?' He asked.

'When you travel around the world fighting, you learn a lot. But wisdom has nothing to do with skill, which is why you should be beating me. Land one punch and I'll buy the pizza next time' Charly offered and returned to his Dragon stance.

The world dropped away for Robin, there was only the mat and his opponent, as he remembered what had just been said.

'_You're forcing your technique…'_ His mind echoed.

He attacked, and was blocked but immediately rolling down the arm that was blocking, almost landing a punch in his opponent's chest.

'Good, you learn fast!' Charly was standing upright, out of stance.

'_Now's my chance, while he's not ready to fight!' _Robin thought, as the kick he had started was blocked and he was thrown to the ground.

'You should always be ready to defend, or attack, even when not in a fighting stance. Again.' This was beginning to get to Robin, this kid was acting like a teacher.

Surging forwards his mind shut out everything but his target, even the part that was telling him which technique to use.

After a flurry of punches were blocked he managed to find an opening, sliding forwards under the blocking arm he landed a punch onto the breast bone of his opponent. The world sprang back around him and he remembered he wasn't breathing.

Charly staggered back, then watched his leader gasping for air and contemplating telling him he had let that attack through.

'_Best not to, eh?'_ He thought.

'Fantastic, I knew you didn't need to constantly think about your attacks.' He congratulated. 'Pizza's on me next time.' He shouted to the rest of the Titans. 'Promise is a promise.'

As everyone was leaving the Gym, Robin caught up with Charly.

'I was wondering…' He started, Charly could feel the embarrassment coming off him in waves.

'What?' The pyrokinetic asked.

'Could you, maybe… Help me out like that some other time?' He asked, not wanting to say teach or train.

'Sure, we could make it a daily thing if you like.' Charly was genuinely flattered to be asked by the Boy-Wonder for martial arts training.

'Thanks.' Robin jogged off. Charly was already forming a plan.

Up in the common room, Robin had already taken a seat on the couch as Charly walked in.

'Robin!' He shouted, 'Your first session starts now!'

'But I thought, in the gym…' Robin began.

'Nope, that was a demonstration, your task is to take this locket from me,' He held up a golden locket on a chain, 'By nightfall, fail and you receive shamebut a second chance, succeed and you receive… Erm…' He sagged a little.

'You telling us about your past.' Robin said instantly.

Charly considered this for a moment, he had to tell them sometime, if he was staying.

'Fine. You may use any means necessary. Go.' He was greeted with a flying kick instantly, which he blocked with ease.

For hours Robin tried to fight the locket away from his team-mate until realising that wouldn't work.

He retreated to form a plan in his room.

Some time later Charly opened the door to the common room, hit the switch and expected light. He wasn't granted that amenity.

'_Oh, I see. Oh, Robin, you won't learn.'_ He walked into the room.

Robin crept up behind him, using some night vision equipment he took from Cyborg's room, with permission of course.

He lunged at the last moment, only to be grabbed and flipped onto the sofa, he looked up to find an empty room. His head dropped again, sighing in defeat.

After many failed ambush attempts the rest of the Titans decided it was time to leave. They went for pizza and true to his word, Charly coughed up the cash.

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'Perhaps you are right, Beast Boy **( A.N. I hate it when people put 'friend' in front of everyone's name when Starfire speaks, she's not stupid.)** Food bought with the money of others does taste a little better.' Starfire was saying as they re-entered the tower.

'I told you, dude, other people's money makes everything better.' Beast Boy was happy and content.

As they reached the common room, they were greeted with an odd scene.

Robin was on the floor, on his front and Charly was sitting on his back, Robin seemed to have been struggling for a while but was slowly giving up.

'You have to get the locket to know what's inside, and about my past.' Charly prodded the prone figure almost in boredom.

'I've tried everything, nothing has worked.' Robin yelled.

'There's still one method you haven't tried.' Charly said in a taunting way.

Robin thought for a moment, then sighed and spoke.

'Can I have the locket, please?' He asked.

Charly jumped off him and dropped the locket in his hand.

'Sure!' He shouted in joy of having taught Robin something.

'What did I learn from that?' Robin was outraged.

'That sometimes the simplest solution is the one that will work, even if it doesn't seem like it will.' Charly said philosophically and left the room.

Robin opened the locket and a slip of paper fell out, he picked it up and read it out loud to the Titans.

''That, and it was bloody funny.' Grr!' He charged out of the room after Charly, who could be heard laughing hysterically in the hall.

**Ended.**

**Review me please, anything you like.**

**Chapter 4 will be called 'The Telling' and will be mainly concerning Charly's past.**

**Thanks for reading!**

**Reamis.**


	4. The Telling

**Charly's history. Finally.**

**I promised an explanation for the supposed pairing in chapter 2, and it's also in this chapter, if I can fit it.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Titans, I wish I did, I wouldn't let CN cancel it. Bastards.**

Charly's eyes widened as he saw the trigger moving back, everything looked to be in slow motion, even though he couldn't use his powers.

A new scene forced it's way in front of his eyes, the body of a man was lying on the floor, though it didn't look human anymore. As Charly stared in horror, trying to speak, tell himself that there was a feasible explanation one of the eyes flew open and a voice so filled with hate and anger Charly wanted to rip his ears off rang out.

'You did this! And you'd do it again, you liked it didn't you? This was simply practice for your new friends.' The one eye formed into four which glowed red.

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'No!' Charly woke screaming, sweat pouring from his body and it was a while before he noticed a very concerned looking Robin standing in his doorway.

'What's wrong? I heard you shout.' He asked.

'Yeah, we all heard, could you wake up a bit quieter next time?' Beast Boy was rubbing sleep from his eyes so he missed the death glare Robin gave him.

'It's nothing,' Charly said quickly, 'A nightmare, it happens from time to time. Y'know, you don't travel as much as I do etcetera.'

Robin gave him one last searching look then left, the other Titans following.

'_I can't tell them.'_ His mind shouted.

'I can and will, I intend to stay here for good, I can't keep running it isn't healthy.' He told himself out loud.

'_They're gonna kick you out when they find out what you did, maybe even jail.'_ A more vindictive part of his mind told him.

'They wouldn't.' He said, but could hear the doubt in his own voice.

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All the Titans had gathered on the couch around Charly, it was time, now or never.

'Ok guys and gals, my story in full, I suppose had to tell someone eventually.' He took a preparatory breath.

'Shouldn't we be around a campfire for this kind of story.' Beast Boy joked, gaining a death-glare from everyone except Charly, who chuckled.

'Not far off, BB. Anyway, when I was younger I discovered these, as you know,' He made a flame in his hand, extinguished it and continued. 'For a while I was something of a national celebrity, but someone got wind and had… Ideas.' He paused and noticed his hands were shaking from the memory of the man.

Beast Boy was leaning in and everyone else was listening intently.

'He worked for a government military secret… Thing. He basically wanted to know if I could be used as a weapon. He did tests, at first I thought he was just a keen scientist, I like science and discovering things about my powers would help me to control them better. They found out that I can create a ball of flame roughly the size of South America that burns at 45.3 million degrees without draining all my energy and killing me.'

Cyborg whistled at the impressive figures and gestured for Charly to continue.

'Not that I ever would, mind, it would destroy our solar system, too much energy. Anyway, when he asked me to work for the military I declined, I'm not a violent person, or so I thought, he pestered me with increasingly annoying and potentially disastrous things. Finally he snapped, called up his troops and rounded up my family and my friends.' Charly stopped. His heart was pounding and his mind screaming for him not to continue.

Raven no doubt felt his anxiety and urged him to continue, if only for his own emotional state.

'He presented me with a task, destroy a building where convicted terrorists were being held, or everyone I loved died. Needless to say I tried to stop him, but he had some kind of binding on me that stopped my temporal powers working. Watching your family and friends getting shot to death sticks with you.' He stopped again and looked at the Titans, each had sympathy plastered all over their faces.

Debating whether to continue he glanced at Robin, who was about to speak.

'So that's why you've been travelling, you're running away. And your nightmares are about this?' He posed it as a question.

Charly sighed.

'No, my nightmare wasn't about what he did. It was and is recurringly about what _I_ did. I snapped, when I saw what he did, totally gone.' He snapped his fingers in front of his face to illustrate.

'Nothing going on. I… killed him. Ripped him apart with my bare hands. He didn't even look human when I finished.' Tears were stinging in his eyes, so he dropped his head even more to hide, it didn't work but no-one mentioned it, out of respect. 'I couldn't live with myself after that, for one reason, when I was doing it I…er… _liked_ it. Everyone assumed I had been killed in the explosion at the warehouse, also my fault, so I decided the best thing to do was get away. But I couldn't outrun my own conscience .' He looked up, irrespective of whether he was crying or not, he needed to see the reactions.

No-one had moved, through his whole explanation not one person had shifted their position or expression, but he could sense something, fear maybe or rejection, he couldn't tell.

He decided to tell them the final detail which he tended to overlook.

'Something strange happened to me while I was… doing that… I changed.' He paused again.

'Changed? How?' Robin finally spoke, but his voice gave away nothing.

'My eyes were, well I managed to get a shot of it, screen print from an internet news site.' He produced a picture from his pocket, where he had stuffed it in preparation, and handed it to his leader.

'I'm the one in the centre, the only one standing.' He told them with a grimace.

The picture showed a mass of people who looked to be asleep. They weren't. In the centre was a tall figure, a huge, satisfied grin on it's face, beneath it's four red eyes.

'Oh my God.' Cyborg didn't stop himself in time.

'I know, I can't stand to look at it.' Charly was staring steadfastly straight ahead.

'No, he means… Is this really you?' Raven asked, fear creeping into her voice.

'Yes, I don't understand why that happened, it hasn't happened since. Then again I haven't been that angry since.' Charly reached out for the photo, but it was denied him, as Robin stared wide-eyed at his newest team-mate in the photo.

'Raven?' He said to her, but she had already left the room.

'Why does everyone keep looking at Raven?' Charly asked the room.

'Well, you see… this,' Robin pointed to the eyes on the photo, 'Is sort of… her…'

'It's one of the signs of my father.' Raven said, entering the room again, carrying a heavy looking book. She laid it down on the table and flipped to a certain page.

'I usually skipped over this section, as it reminded me of the Prophecy, so I never noticed this before. I'll paraphrase.' She slid her finger over the page and then looked up.

'It says that as well as the Gem, Trigon would create another, though indirectly through human hosts, to be on the Earth if I was not.' She looked at Charly, who looked very confused.

'So, I'm like… the spawn of Trigon, but born to my human parents, with no-one the wiser?' He asked the dark girl. She nodded.

'That's what it says here, and this seems to prove it.' She again pointed to the photograph.

'So I'm… kinda… your half-brother?' He queried.

'You could say that, yes.' Raven raised an eyebrow at the boy.

Expecting something to explode or for Charly to leave the room, Robin was about to speak. Then he noticed the smile spreading across the pyrokinetic's face.

'I _do_ have some family left!' He shouted suddenly, leaping from his seat and beginning a standard victory dance he learnt from Beast Boy.

Raven was relieved, though she didn't know why.

'_Because the love you felt for him wasn't the kind of love you thought?'_ Happy shouted in her mind.

'_I don't love him!'_ Raven snarled mentally

'_Really? But he's our brother. That's cold, Raven, even for you.'_ Wisdom had beaten her again.

'_Gonna have to deal with it, he lives here now.'_ She thought.

'I have a sister who's not dead. I have a sister who's not dead.' Charly was chanting and dancing, under the approving eye of Beast Boy. He stopped when he spotted Raven staring at him.

'What? Something on my face?' He asked, reaching immediately to his forehead then to his mouth, checking for demon-eyes and bits of food respectively.

Starfire felt she had been silent long enough.

'Oh, wonderful! You have discovered a living family-member you did not know existed. I shall prepare the pudding of happiness!' She flew off to the kitchen to gather ingredients.

Robin was still stewing on what the book had said.

'Wait a minute, if Raven hadn't been here, Trigon would still have taken over the world, but through you?' He said to Charly.

'I don't know, but that's what the book said, so I guess so. Maybe it was a failsafe, just in case. I expect that coming through me would have been harder, since both my parents were human.' Charly theorised.

'Doesn't sound like he had that hard a time controlling you back then.' Robin pointed at the picture accusingly.

'But that didn't last long did it?' Charly's smile had vanished and he stepped towards Robin.

'Long enough to rip a man apart.' Robin was talking to him like he was a criminal they were about to take down.

'Trigon is gone, his influence over me is basically nothing, so for someone in whom it was never that strong it must be totally negligible.' Raven reasoned, defending her newfound half-brother.

Charly had a pleading look in his eyes when Robin turned back to him.

'Don't make me leave, Robin, being here… It's the most peaceful I've ever been, even before all of this. The most happy. I'm useful too, remember Adonis?' Charly was practically begging.

Robin looked away, which Charly took to mean 'you can stay'.

'Thank you.' He said simply, shot a glance at the other Titans then left for his room.

'What are you going to do, man?' Cyborg asked the spiky-haired teen.

'If anything happens that's… you know… He's out. I can't have anyone endangering my team.' He left the room.

Cyborg looked thoughtful, Beast Boy and Starfire both looked crestfallen that Robin would not trust their new friend. Raven simply looked angry at what Robin had said.

'No-one except himself, or Terra. Hell, if our father's a reason to kick him out, why am I still here?' She slammed the book shut and stormed to her room.

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'_He doesn't trust us. I knew we shouldn't have told him.'_ Someone in Charly's mind said.

'_Will you stop saying 'we' it's creepy.' _Charly thought

'_He's going to kick 'me' out, how's that?'_ The voice said.

'_Better, but he's not, otherwise he'd have to justify it to everyone else, let alone my sister.'_ He thought

'_Sounds weird after this long, doesn't it? I guess if he did kick me out for this he'd have to explain why Raven was still here.'_

'Exactly!' Charly said out loud.

'Exactly what?' Came a voice from his doorway.

'Oh, Raven, come on in. I'm just arguing with my mind.' He said with a smile, hoping he had confused her with his statement.

'Yeah, I do that sometimes, comes with the 'offspring of a demon' territory.' She said simply.

'Oh, well what can I do for you, sis?' Charly asked, trying on the term.

'Don't call me that.' Raven snapped, but was smiling, 'I came to ask you what you're going to do about Robin?'

'Hmm. Three options come to mind. 1. Do nothing and hope the problem goes away. 2. Confront him and explain that sometimes I can't sleep or eat and want to kill myself because of what I did. And have tried. 3. Leave before he gets the chance to kick me out. I'm going to opt for 1, then 3.' He rubbed his wrist as he told her the second option.

Raven looked concerned at her brother's choice option. The one he hadn't chosen worried her as well and Charly could sense it.

'I stopped trying a long time ago. Not exactly a good pastime. But if I died now I wouldn't be that bothered. It's more of something I've accepted than something I try to accomplish these days.' He stood.

'You want me to go talk to him, right?' He asked Raven.

'It's your best option.' She told him.

I'll take your advice, but only because we're family.' He joked.

Smiling, she left him to ponder what to say to Robin.

'_So, I have a brother now. Could be interesting'_ She thought.

'_He might be the only one who fully understands what you've been through, I mean he had that whole 'end of the world' thing hanging over him too, even if he did just find out about it.'_ Knowledge told her.

'_Maybe he's even more messed up, I mean we've never killed a man with our bare hands, or at all.'_ Someone shouted, it sounded like Bravery.

She heard loud, angry music blaring from Charly's room.

'Maybe.' She whispered and went to meditate.

**Chapter 4 complete.**

**What do you think, come on! I know how many people have been on here and I wont accept you not reviewing.**

**Anyway, told you it wasn't a pairing, it was better!**

**But, what's Robin gonna do? You'll have to wait and see.**

**I so evil.**

**Reamis.**


	5. Mind Full

**Chapter 5. Mind Full**

**Again, only one review, from utterlypointless who thus far has left me alone.**

**We enter a number of weeks after Charly told the Titans about his sordid past.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Titans.**

Charly wandered down the now familiar hallway of the Titan's Tower, a nagging feeling that he had forgotten something tugging at his mind.

He paused before he entered the common room, adjusting his stride to make it seem like his bandaged waist wasn't bothering him. He had been injured during a battle with Cinderblock and it was still sore, but he didn't want anyone to pay undue attention.

'_I've had worse anyway.'_ He thought.

The door slid open and Beast Boy turned to see who could possibly have slept longer than him and was greeted by the sight of Charly, smiling and obviously trying to play down his injury. Beast Boy said nothing, but watched as the completely uncontrollable hair disappeared into the fridge, then reappeared, in Charly's hand was an apple.

'BB, what's the date?' Charly asked suddenly without looking up and flipping on the stereo with a flare, Vindicated by Dashboard Confessional came on, but quietly, so Charly could hear the answer.. At the same point the other Titans entered, coming from their own rooms all at the same time, their routine now almost synchronised after all this time.

'Erm… It's the 27th of July.' Beast Boy looked at his watch **(Which he _does_ have)**, 'Why?' He inquired.

'Just thought I'd forgotten something.' Charly still seemed to be racking his brain.

'Anything important?' Robin asked, not really caring, he seemed to be drifting further from the newest member every day after the story.

'No, I think I would remember if it was something big. It's like something is supposed to happen that I haven't acknowledged in a couple of years.' He slammed himself onto the couch in frustration, munching on his apple.

'Well, what haven't you done in a few years? Something to do with your family?' Raven asked.

'I think it might have been… Ah! That's it!' He snapped his fingers, 'I'm sixteen!' He smiled at having remembered.

'So?' Cyborg shouted from the kitchen, where his bacon was cooking nicely.

'No, I mean, I'm sixteen today. It's my birthday.' He threw his apple core into the trash from his seat and stood up, seemingly having instantly forgotten what he had just said.

'I'm going for a walk, anyone wanna come?' Before anyone answered he strolled out.

'Dude, you'd think he'd be a bit more, well, excited about his sixteenth birthday.' Beast Boy seemed to be trying very hard to grasp the concept.

'Why? He hasn't celebrated for a while, it wouldn't make sense to get over-excited about it.' Raven defended her half-brother.

'Perhaps, though it is saddening to say, he does not wish to celebrate as he is reminded of his deceased family.' Starfire looked quite sad at the prospect.

'We should throw him some kind of party!' Cyborg shouted, 'We need to get stuff ready before he gets back!' He ran off, presumably to some storage room somewhere.

'Is a surprise party a good idea? You remember what happened last time.' Robin, the voice of reason, stated.

'I would also like to point out that it is an Earth custom to give gifts on the day of one's birth, but we do not have one to give to Charly.' Starfire pointed out, though visibly excited at the prospect of another surprise party.

'I have another meditation mirror in my room, I don't know why I have two. We could give him that, I suppose.' Raven offered.

'Great! Party time!' Beast Boy had already started to pin up the 'Happy Birthday' banner.

'Fine.' Robin gave in and helped with the streamers.

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'_Nothing like a walk to heal wounds.' _Charly thought, opening the door to the common room, which was uncommonly dark, especially for midday.

'Hello?' Charly shouted into the room, stepping through the door and peering around, he could feel something was about to happen, but wasn't sure what.

'_They didn't, did they?'_ His mind asked just before;

'SURPRISE!' All five Titans appeared from nowhere.

A large ball of flames leapt into the air with a yelp.

'Told you.' Robin said aside to Beast Boy, who growled.

'What the hell you guys?' Charly was gasping, holding his side.

'Happy birthday.' Robin said, smiling at the confused boy.

'You didn't have to do this, I haven't celebrated, or even remembered my birthday for about two years.' He was eyeing the streamers to make sure none were on fire from his outburst.

'Yeah, but dude, you live here now and we do birthdays right!' Beast Boy had sidled up to him with a large slice of red coloured cake on a plate.

'I almost made an 'Oh really, what about the End of the World' joke then, but fought the urge, surely that's bonus points?' He glanced at Raven, to see if he was safe, she was actually smiling. She held out the black, gothic looking mirror, having performed the ritual that would switch it from a portal to her mind to that of Charly's.

'Here, we didn't have time to get you anything, but I had this.' She said.

'Cool, a meditation mirror, I've been looking for one of these in all honesty. Thank you, all of you, it's been a while since anyone paid this much attention to me. In fact I'm a little uncomfortable, so I'm going to put this in my room.' He turned to leave but was grabbed by Cyborg.

'You can't go yet, man, we still need to…' He stopped when he noticed that Charly had dropped the mirror. And it was glowing.

'That can't be good.' Charly pointed out helpfully, as a large flaming hand rose from the mirror.

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Charly opened his eyes to find himself on some kind of carpet.

'Ow, how did I get down here?' He asked out loud. His memories re-ordered themselves and he leapt up.

'Guys!' He shouted, looking round and spotting the prone forms of his friends, though they seemed fine and were slowly getting up.

Robin glared at Charly from his sitting position.

'What? It's not my fault we're… erm… Here.' Charly defended, looking around at what seemed to be some kind of office.

'Where is here?' Beast Boy asked dully.

'This is Charly's mind. We were brought here by the mirror.' Raven stated.

'Oh, like that time we,' he gestured to Cyborg and himself, 'were in your head. Only without the multiple personality thing.' A self satisfied grin spread over his face at being the one to work it out.

'Your last point was wrong, actually.' A voice said from behind Charly, who jumped aside revealing… Himself, but this Charly had dark green hair, and his shirt was a similar colour.'

'Hi, Bravery at your service.' The doppelganger said, offering a hand to Charly, who shook it.

'Who's office is this?' Robin asked Brave, who was staring challengingly right at him.

'Mine, ours, his. Erm… It belongs to the main consciousness. So him.' He pointed at Charly, 'If you want to come in here but don't want to talk to us, just lock the door and we'll leave you alone.' He finished.

'We?' Charly said confusedly.

'Your aspects! Come on, you heard the story of Raven's mind from BB, why can't you grasp this?' Bravery had picked up a paper-weight from the desk and seemed to be aiming it for Robin's head.

'Right, well, lets explore shall we?' The green Charly shouted suddenly and strolled from the room. The Titans followed.

Leaving the room, they found themselves in a small lobby, elaborately decorated but not over-bearing.

'Your mind is built around the design of a building,' Bravery was saying, 'Knowledge says it's because you like order, but you don't tend to show it.'

'Who's that?' Cyborg asked, pointing to a mauve shirted and haired Charly hanging from the balcony.

'Disbelief.' Bravery dismissed.

Charly burst out laughing and Raven smirked, but no-one else seemed to get it.

'Seems all my mental aspects share my love for elaborate jokes.' He managed to choke out between gasps.

'I don't get it.' Beast Boy whined, scratching his head.

'Suspended disbelief.' Raven said in her custom monotone, before Bravery led them off again.

After a while of walking through corridors they came to another lobby, larger then the first, this one even had windows which seemed to be showing whatever Charly was currently looking at.

'This is where I leave you,' Bravery told them, 'From here onwards is Happy's territory, I don't know it too well.' He did an about turn and strolled back the way he had come.

'Hi!' A voice behind them shouted gleefully, causing them to swing around.

'I'm Happy, your happiness personified.' This Charly was wearing bright yellow, hair the same and was almost painful to look at.

'Yellow? I thought happiness was pink?' Raven sounded thoroughly perplexed.

'Your happiness might be pink, but I'm yellow. Which is great. Wanna set off?' Without an answer he turned and skipped off down a corridor, singing 'Hotel California' loudly.

'Hey, my voice isn't that bad.' Charly noted, setting off after his ecstatic mental aspect and taking up the song, though quietly.

'So, where have you been for the last two years? On holiday?' Charly asked Happy, catching up closely followed by the other Titans.

'Don't be like that, you've been happy during that time. Remember Florida?' Happy gave him a nudge.

'How could I forget?' Charly answered, a huge grin spreading over his face.

Happy skipped forwards a bit and was replaced by Beast Boy.

'What happened in Florida?' He asked.

'Well, there was this party and I met a girl who was doing tricks for a bit of cash. She was a pyrokinetic as well, we trained together for a while, but she lost control when we were trying to stop a robbery. She was sent to an asylum, then committed suicide. Wait, that's not a happy memory.' He glared at Happy, who merely pointed out that if he forgot the robbery and the events after, it actually was.

'She was special, we all really miss her. The past is the past though, no use dwelling on it.' A grey shirted Charly had appeared from a door, his hair a dark grey that looked more like it was dyed than the product of age and it hung down over his face like a mask.

'Hi, Sorrow!' Happy yelled ecstatically slapping the grey one on the shoulder.

'Oh good, just what I need, someone to remind me of all I have to be sad about.' Charly sighed, Sorrow was currently staring at Robin.

'He doesn't trust us, though I didn't expect anything less after you told him about… it.' Sorrow said suddenly.

'What? I… it's…' Robin floundered for a second before being silenced by the appearance of yet another Charly, this one in a purple shirt, fetching purple hair to match.

'Hello,' He said, scanning the group he spotted Starfire and moved forwards, taking her hand and kissing it lightly, 'My, you are more beautiful in person than through the windows.' He bowed and stepped back, smiling.

'Stop pretending that you're a gentleman Lust, no-one is falling for it.' Sorrow had barely glanced up from the floor to speak.

Lust's eyes were twinkling as he shot occasional glances at Starfire, his grin getting wider each time.

'Oh God.' Charly sighed in defeat, trying to deal with these guys was taking more effort than he had.

'Wanna see your subconscious?' Happy suddenly shouted and ran off down a corridor.

'Erm… ok.' The group, including Sorrow and Lust, followed.

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They found Happines leaning on a door marked 'Corridor of Subconscious' he grinned and tapped in a code, the door slid open revealing a long corridor. Moving down it Happy pointed to alternate doors.

'Desires, Hopes, Fears. All boring. Fun fact, did you know that apparently the male teenager will think about… 'that' every five seconds?' He seemed very pleased as he stopped at a door marked 'Starfire'.

'Take a look if you don't believe me.' He grinned.

Charly opened the door a crack and peered in, he saw what looked to be a model of Starfire standingin the middle of the dark room, five seconds went by until…

'ARGH!' Charly slammed the door closed and jumped back. 'That's a lot of orange.' He stated, trying not to meet anyone's eyes.

'Yes, rather a lot, you'll notice other named doors as we move towards our destination.' Happy pointed to one marked 'Gemma' another with 'Sarah' written over it. The whole corridor was filled with doors with feminine names over them from that point on.

'My favourite place in the whole mind.' Lust shouted from the back of the group.

'That's because you're sick.' Sorrow was leaning on the wall looking at his shoes, again.

Walking a bit more Charly once again stopped , the door he was staring at was marked 'Raven'.

'Please tell me that's not…' He began.

'It is.' Lust cut in, chuckling a little.

'Ew! That's just sick. Can I cut this off from my mind?' He asked Happy.

'Just lock the door.' Happy pointed to the key in the lock. Charly turned it with a sigh of relief.

'Guys, just thought I'd tell you that Rage isn't in a good mood. He's yelling about people entering his domain without him being told.' Bravery ran up to them panting.

'Ok, cool, just showing them the subconscious, you wanna do the last door?' Happy asked the green shirted Charly.

'Ok, follow me.' He set off around a corner, where they were met with an unmarked door.

'This is the door to the basement, everything you feel guilty about, everything you've done wrong, a copy of it is kept in there. You may have guessed it's mainly concerned with the 'Incident' but other things are down there as well. No-one goes down there.' Bravery finished.

'Not even you? But I thought you were Brave?' Beast Boy asked, confused.

Bravery simply shook his head.

'Let me guess, my Rage lives in there?' Charly asked.

'Nope, not even he goes down there, despite it being closely linked with his 'Daddy' as he calls him.' Bravery looked around to make sure Rage wasn't nearby, he didn't fancy a fight right now.

'His Daddy? Trigon?' Cyborg moved forwards, hand reaching for the door.

'Stop. I think the main consciousness should open it, he's more used to what's inside than any of you.' Happy wasn't smiling, strangely.

Charly's hand replaced Cyborg's over the door handle, he twisted, opened it a crack and peered round.

A red light poured from the small sliver of open door, along with horrific sounds. Screaming, crying and the crackling of flames.

Charly's face didn't change at all as he watched whatever horrors were happening down there. A long, piercing scream was his cue to slam the door shut and spin.

'I think it's time we all left.' He said suddenly, moving past the titans.

Walking back through the corridor he spotted Lust opening the 'Starfire' door.

'Lust! Stop being perverted and tell me how to get out of here.' Charly demanded, marching up to him and slamming the door closed.

'Follow the exit signs. Now move.' He pushed past Charly and entered the room, the last thing Charly heard before the door slammed shut was; 'Hello, my pretty.' Charly shuddered.

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Congregating around the Exit door, right next to the main office the Titans said their goodbyes to the utterly confusing mental aspects of their friend.

'Feel free to come back whenever you can get hold of the mirror.' Happy shouted at the group.

'They won't come back.' Sorrow almost whispered. 'We scared them with the Basement.'

Opening the exit revealed a swirling vortex of energy.

'After you.' Charly bowed and let the Titans go ahead of him. 'Happy landings.'

'Any problems with the Basement, gimme a nudge ok?' He asked Bravery once everyone had left.

'Sure, but there hasn't been any yet, except that one time two years ago, won't be happening again, not with Trigon gone.' Bravery assured him.

'Good. Well, au revoir I suppose.' He strolled through the door.

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Landing gracefully on the floor of the common room, he noticed that the other Titans had gone off to do their own things. He picked up the mirror, cradling it like it was a universal cure and went to his room.

Placing the mirror on his table, he flopped onto the bed.

'_Thishas beenboth the best and weirdest birthday ever.'_ He thought to himself before drifting into a deep sleep.

**Phew, that's the longest chapter I've written for any story.**

**REVIEW ME! ARGH, how hard can it be to just click the button?**

**Anyway, enjoy until the next chapter.**

**Reamis.**


	6. Nighttime Revalations

**Chapter 6. Nighttime Revalations.**

**No reviews as of yet, because I wanted this down before I forgot it.**

**So here we go.**

Tossing from side to side, trying to ignore the rain lashing against the window, Starfire was caught in a bout of uncommon insomnia and as a result was searching for any way to get some rest. Nothing was working.

'_Perhaps some warm milk will help me sleep.' _She thought, hopping out of bed **(A.N. When she thinks, it's in Tamaranean, thus allowing grammar and syntax to be correct.)**

Making her way down the darkened halls of the tower, she had thrown on her regular attire, in case any one else was up, though she doubted it. It was 1:30 in the morning.

Grabbing a mug from the counter in the common room, she glided over to the fridge, removing the milk. She filled the mug and placed it in the microwave, hoping the incessant whirring wouldn't wake anyone.

As she waited the door to the common room slid open, revealing a dripping Charly who, despite his soaking wet state, looked very happy.

'Oh, hi Star.' He said quietly as he moved to the fridge, grabbing an apple from it he leaned on the counter. 'What are you doing up at half one?' He asked and took a bite.

'I found it difficult to sleep, I believe the storm is causing it.' Starfire told him, taking her milk from the microwave, which had just ended it's cycle.

'Same here, only not the storm part, I love storms.' He shook his head, water spraying everywhere from his hair, which plastered itself to his face when he had finished.

'Why are you wet, friend?' Starfire asked, rubbing excess water from herself.

'I was on the roof, I tend to sleep up there. It's the bed.' Charly threw the core of his apple in the trash.

'It is too hard, perhaps?' Starfire seemed taken aback, after all she had helped decorate and furnish Charly's room.

'No, no. It's perfect, that's the problem. I've been sleeping in caves and on roofs for a year, it's hard to settle into a bed.' Charly explained.

Silence ran through the room as the two sat and contemplated what had been said until Starfire finally spoke again.

'You do not often speak to any of us ina 'deep'manner, it is as though you are afraid of what you might say.' She pointed out.

'Wow, you're good at this psycho-analysis stuff.' Charly leapt up to sit on the counter. 'It means working out what someone is thinking.' He told her, seeing her blank face.

'I see, then I assume I am correct, yes?' She pressed.

'I suppose so, yes.' Charly looked away, into the darkness.

'Raven tells me I am a good listener, perhaps I can listen to you and use this 'psychic-analysis' to help you.' She offered, smiling.

'Psycho-analysis. Also, I'm not sure you want to know what I think. You were with us when I opened that door to the basement of my mind. It frightened me and it's my mind, you can't tell me you weren't scared.' Charly stalled, he really wasn't very good at 'opening up'.

'Please, if I know what you are thinking I can help you overcome problems.' Starfire wasn't giving up without a fight.

'_and I really don't want to fight her, she'd kick my butt in seconds.'_ He thought.

'Ok, you win, ask me anything you want.' He sighed. 'Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate.'

'I am unfamiliar with that language.' Starfire looked confused.

'Most people are these days, it's Latin, which isn't spoken anymore. It means 'Abandon all hope, ye who enter here' It's written over the gates of hell in Dante's Inferno. That's a poem.' Charly explained his metaphor.

'What made you look for us? Surely finding living relatives would have been a priority.' Star asked.

'Ah, but I found family here,' He replied, knowingly, 'Not that it was my intention. I decided that I'd be better off here than going with my other option.'

'What was that?' Starfire was now very interested, to the point of leaning in to ask questions.

'It was here, or a life of crime in order to get by. But then I would have ended up in Gotham, getting beat up by Batman, Metropolis getting beat up by Superman or here getting beat up by you guys. Then there's Titans East, I could take them though.' He grinned, kicking his legs over his head into a back-flip off the counterand landed on the ground. 'Or I could go to a city with no crime fighters, but then I'd get so powerful I'd have the whole Justice League after me.'

'So you decided to fight crime, instead of causing it.' Starfire looked at the only visible part of Charly in the dark, the glowing points of his eyes. The image was quite unnerving.

'Yep, I'm sorry about the eyes, by the way, they tend to creep people out, especially at night.' Charly moved back to lean on the counter once again.

'You knew what I was thinking?' Starfire asked, startled.

'No, I knew what you were feeling, slightly empathic, remember? Anyway, when I came to Jump it just felt right, like home you know?' He stopped, savouring the memory.

Starfire gave him a moment.

'I've been in Jump a long time, a very long time. I managed to cram all my travelling into about a year then came here, I was living in a cave on the other side of the hill for a while.' He gestured in the general direction

'Were you not cold?' Starfire asked.

'No, temperatures don't affect you when you control fire. It was back then when I learned most of my control as well, so as not to cause a landslide and trap myself or…' He trailed off.

'Harm anyone?' Starfire offered.

'You could say that, while I was living in the caves I met a girl, she was a traveller like me, and was crashing in the same cave, I learned to control my powers better to keep us both warm during winter or storms, or provide light when her flashlight ran out.' Charly was hinting at something but Starfire could not figure out what.

'She had powers too, she was a geomancer. Or geo-kinetic.' Charly raised his eyebrows as Starfire failed to grasp his subtle use of Latin, then again he couldn't expect her to know what geo-kinetic meant.

'Geo means earth in Latin, and kinetic means movement.' He dropped his final hint, the next would be a blatant name drop.

'She was an earth movement? An earth-mover? You lived with Terra?' Starfire finally caught on, causing Charly to chuckle a little.

'Yeah, you know when you met her, she was being chased by a giant scorpion? She was leading it away from me, it had knocked me unconscious. When I woke I thoughtit had got her,I never saw her again until I was walking past a TV shop and she was on a news report.' He paused to look around, he'd felt something, but was unsure what it was.

'Why did you not contact us earlier? Perhaps you could have convinced her to not betray us.' Starfire looked positively ecstatic that she was having an in depth conversation with Charly, finally.

'I couldn't have stopped her. BB couldn't, so I wouldn't have stood a chance.' He closed his eyes and sighed at her memory.

'You miss her, do you not?' Star asked quietly.

'More than my friends and family, Star, more than I miss my old life. She was the only reason I stuck around in Jump as long as I did. That and wanting to find my purpose.' Charly opened his eyes, which had filled with tears and turned, to stop Starfire seeing his weakness.

'Have you found your purpose now?' She asked.

'Still working on that one, I'm afraid, but I think I've nearly cracked it.' He turned back around, a renewed fire in his eyes.

'As long as I can, I'm going to protect this city. It's helped me get my life back on track, I want to reciprocate. I've said it before, but over the last few weeks it's made more sense to me. When I'm here I'm happier than I've ever been, even before I got powers. This is my home, my haven and even if I wasn't a Titan, I'd still fight to protect it.'

'That is why you are worried about Robin.' Starfire pointed out.

'Is it that obvious? Yeah, if he kicks me out I have no idea what I would do.'

'He would not do that, you are useful for the team. You are also our friend.' Starfire comforted.

'Yeah, I suppose I'd have to do something pretty big to get him that mad.' Charly laughed though his mind was in turmoil over whether he could do something that big.

Starfire gave a big yawn.

'Oh, I'm so sorry, I've kept you up, I'm really sorry, I'll let you go.' Charly apologised .

'It was not that you were boring me, far from it, the milk seems to have taken the desired effect, though.' She told him, before setting off towards the door.

'Good night, Star.' Charly spoke from behind her.

'You must sleep soon, it can not be healthy to stay up all night.' She turned to see him staring out of the window at the neon glow of the city.

'It's ok Star, I don't sleep much as it is.' He said without turning.

'Well, good night friend.' She turned to leave.

'Sweet dreams.' Was the last thing she heard before the door closed.

'_I hope Robin does not consider throwing him out of the tower, it would ruin his life.'_ She thought, retreating to her room.

Back in the common room, Charly was staring at the city. His city.

'You should go see her, you know.' Knowledge shouted from inside his mind.

'_Stupid 'being part demon' thing.' _Charly thought, too late to stop himself

'So we annoy you, that doesn't change the fact that you should go see her, you know where she is now.' Knowledge shouted.

'You could make your peace, you still feel guilty about it.' Wisdom was there too.

'_Well, it was my fault, she was jealous of my control and if wasn't so weak when that scorpion attacked, she wouldn't have run off. We could have trained a bit more. I could have helped her with her powers.' _Charly mentally yelled at himself

'It wasn't your fault and you couldn't have helped her when your powers were acting up as much as hers. You only strengthened your control as a tribute to her. GO SEE HER!' Wisdom and knowledge yelled together.

'Fine!' Charly shouted, and stormed from the room.

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It was a long walk to the cave where Terra's statue lay, but Charly wasn't paying attention to the distance or the rain. He had to see his friend one last time.

The entrance was dark. Almost pitch black.

'_Nothing a few fireballs won't fix.'_ He told himself, creating one to move in front of him and one behind, though they only seemed to make the dark patches even darker.

He reached the chamber and created enough fireballs to light the whole room like it was the middle of the day.

In the centre was the statue. She was still wearing Slade's suit and her arms were up in what must have been an awesome display of power.

'I see you learned that much control at least.' He chuckled, but the sadness underlying was deep.

He placed the flower he had brought at the foot of the statue and sat down.

'I'm sorry Terra, if I had been more alert, stronger, when that scorpion attacked none of this would have happened.' He let a tear drop to the ground and watched as it was absorbed.

'You know they said there's a chance you're still alive in there? Mind if I take a look? Heh, of course you don't.' He closed his eyes and focused his own life energy into a spear like shape, though not visible like Raven's.

He probed into the statue, looking for anything at all. He was about to give up hope when something touched his mind, a very faint pulsating that reminded him of the life energy of someone.

'Terra?' He shouted, unwittingly causing a spike in his own mental power. For a second there was a blinding light and pain and then blackness.

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He awoke sometime later and sat up, holding his head.

'Ow, what the hell?' He looked around and noticed something was amiss. The Terra statue was not on it's plinth.

'The statue! Oh crap, I destroyed it! Oh my god!' He collapsed again, unable to take the strain of what he had done.

He was about to black out again when a familiar figure floated into view above him, but the features were blurred.

'Huh? Wazzat?' He asked groggily.

'Charly?' a very familiar and welcome voice called.

'_Why do I feel like I haven't heard that voice in a while?'_ He asked his mind.

'Idiot, why do you think?' Wisdom shouted.

He forced himself to stay awake a while longer.

'Terra?' He asked, causing the figure above him to grin.

'Hi!' Was the last thing he heard before blacking out again.

**Oh em gee! Review me!**

**Yes, I did just do that. We'll have to see where it goes.**

**I'm so evil it hurts sometimes.**

**Reamis.**


	7. Geokinetics rock

**CHAPTER 7 (title will come to me eventually)**

**Reviews, to the total of… one.**

**SHSW360: Yes, it is… very cool. Your wanderings, by the way… well, we'll have to wait and see, won't we? It's possible I may steal your whole review to put into a chapter as well.**

**Disclaim!**

Charly's head was throbbing as he opened his eyes, he took in his surroundings. Some kind of cavern.

'Oh, god, please don't let all of this have been some kind of dream! That would be so unfair.' He shouted to the cave walls.

'I don't know what you were dreaming about, but you aren't now.' A female voice sounded from nearby, causing Charly to twirl around. This did wonders for his headache.

'ARGH! Pain!' He shouted, clutching his head. He spotted the origin of the voice.

'How do you know I'm not dreaming now and you are merely a figment? Or vice versa?' He asked the blonde girl, who was sat on the floor next to one of his fireballs.

'So it is really you, I missed your philosophies while I was with the Titans.' Terra finally turned to face him.

'Terra. This isn't possible, they said you were…' Charly couldn't finish.

'Dead? Yeah, thought they might. Well I didn't think at all, I was kinda aware of some things but others were blurry.' She didn't seem phased by the fact she had been a statue for a year.

'They, the Titans? They tried everything to get you back, nothing worked.' Charly explained.

'They didn't try you.' She replied with a smile.

'Actually, they kinda did… I'm a Titan now, as of a month or so ago. Spitfire, at your service.' He offered her a hand, realising he was still on his back.

'You're a Titan now? How did that happen?' She asked, helping him to his feet, he wobbled for a second then they moved back towards the flame.

'Typical affair. Blanked for a minute or so, found myself on a bridge, police saying I was dangerous then the Titans were there, landed a drop-kick on Cyborg but found I couldn't bring myself to hit Raven, for reasons I'll come back to. They realised I was having a hard time of it and took me in, after a demonstration.' He took a deep breath, having not breathed through his speech, then created a small flame replica of Terra.

'Do they… Know?' She was referring to the incident.

'Of course, you can't spell 'Demonstrate' without 'Demon'.' He smiled.

'Huh?' Terra was thoroughly confused.

'Oh, we discovered that that happened because I'm part-demon, like Raven.' He let that slip, not realising Terra didn't know.

'She's what? You're what?' She scrambled back a little.

'Part-demon,' He sighed, 'While you were stone, Raven's father turned up, using her as a portal and took over the world, the titans stopped him though. He's a massive demon guy, that's where she gets her power. It's where I get mine too.' He was rushing to get it all off his chest, he looked at Terra, who had edged back to the fire.

'You get your power from Raven's father? That's weird.' She looked even more confused, were that possible.

'He's technically my father too, my birth was engineered by him as a failsafe were Raven not on the earth to be the portal. He's gone now though, so I'm ok.' He chuckled a little at her expression as it dawned on her.

'You're Raven's brother? Why didn't you tell me?' She practically screamed at him.

'Well I didn't know,' He defended, his grin faltering, 'And even if I did I never got the chance, then you left me unconscious in a cave.' He shot at her.

'I was protecting you!' She shot back, now yelling.

'Then you met the Titans, Beast Boy, and forgot about me completely!' He was bordering on true anger.

'Beast Boy…' Terra's voice faltered and she dropped back into her sitting position.

'You really had something with him huh?' Charly asked, lowering his voice into a comforting tone.

'_He always was good at that'_ Terra thought.

'I guess, but when I was… incapacitated,' She gestured to the plinth she was once stood on. 'I had time to think, at points. I think… I've moved on. That sounds so mean.' She ended.

'Nah, tell you the truth I think he has too, he still comes to see you nearly every day but he's been eyeing Raven for ages. He was staring at her when we all first met.' Charly said, trying not to upset her.

'That's a relief.' She said simply, then gave a huge yawn.

'Oh, sorry, I've inadvertently brought you back from the near dead at a most unsociable hour. It's 3:30 in the morning. If you want to get some sleep I'll keep a watch, or whatever it is that good guys do.' Charly offered.

'I love it when you do the incredibly English thing.' She laughed sleepily, 'I guess you aren't used to being a good guy yet.'

'I haven't had much practice.' He chuckled. Turning, he noticed she had fallen into sleep and created what was effectively a flame blanket to keep her warm.

'Just sit here and keep watch, that'll be the plan.' He told himself, noticing he wasn't making much sense.

'Just tired, that's all, I should sleep like Starfire said.' With that he collapsed backward and began to snore.

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He awoke to daylight streaming through cracks in the rock and moving his arm to cover his eyes, found it obstructed.

Either he had moved over to her, or she had moved to him while they were both sleeping, but Terra's arms were around him and as a result he couldn't move without waking her.

'_Can't stay like this though, it'd be embarrassing when she wakes up.'_ He thought.

'Nah, you used to do this all the time, remember? She always said you were like a radiator. I think she's waking up now anyway, look.' Charly couldn't tell if that was Wisdom, or Lust posing as Wisdom to get his way.

'_I can't look, I'd have to move and I don't want to. Wake her! I don't want to wake her!' _His mental slip didn't go unnoticed

'Too late, you thought it!' Happy shouted.

He was about to respond when he felt Terra stir behind him.

'Morning.' She said, letting go of him abruptly and standing up.

'Hey.' He said simply, turning over to look at her.

She giggled self-consciously at the position they were in before trying to cover it.

'Just like old times, huh?' She said, blushing very slightly.

'Yeah. Tell me, am I still like a radiator or have I become colder over the last year?' He smiled, allowing his lazy eyes to close again.

'Nope, you still give off heat like a broken boiler.' She answered, laughing a little.

'Right, we can't stay here all day, got things to do.' He leapt up, but his eyes were refusing to open. 'That's not normal.' He noted, forcing them open with his fingers.

'Think you're ready to talk to some old friends?' He asked her, holding out his communicator.

'I… Yes.' She nodded in emphasis.

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'Anyone seen Charly? It's not like him to be asleep this late.' Robin was pacing, he was already behind with his training schedule.

'I spoke to him during the night, when I could not sleep. He said he had not slept at all as he had been enjoying the storm on the roof.'

'Brits.' Cyborg cut in.

'Anyway,' Starfire continued, 'We spoke of many things, his life, his desire to keep safe the city, his association with Terra before we met her.' She had let that slip without thinking.

'What?' Beast Boy spun from his tofu.

'He informed me that he had been living in the same cave as her for some time. Then I went back to my bed and left him surveying the cityscape.' Starfire blushed from revealing what Charly had told her the night before.

'That still doesn't answer my question, where is he…' Robin was cut off as the main screen turned into a picture of Charly, he looked as though he had slept on a rock and his hair seemed to have just dried from the night before.

'Hey, sorry about the odd morning greeting.' He said over the comm.

'Where are you?' Robin asked, eyeing the background, which looked like…

'The cavern where Terra is. And I have news.' His expression gave nothing away.

'Good or bad?' Cyborg asked, moving forwards.

'Well, some bad, some good and some absolutely fantastic. I'll start with the bad.' He took a deep breath.

'After talking with Starfire, as she's no doubt told you, I had the urge to visit Terra's… resting place. Anyway, I remembered that you said she could still be alive, well I checked for myself and there was nothing at first but then I felt something. I got excited and my energy spiked, Something happened and I blacked out.' He gasped for air.

'So what's the news?' Robin was getting more impatient.

'Getting there! When I came to I noticed something, which is what my bad news is about. Terra's statue is gone.' He let that sink in, but before anyone could question him he was off again.

'The good news is it wasn't destroyed, in the bad sense of the word.' He grinned, seemingly unable to keep his fantastic news to himself.

'There's a good sense of the word destroyed?' Raven asked rhetorically.

'The fantastic news, You ask? How could it be linked to the disappearance of Terra's statue but it not being destroyed? Well, It's easier to show you than tell you.' He gestured to someone off-screen.

Every person in the room gasped when a blonde head entered the picture as well.

'Hi, guys.' Terra said uncertainly.

Only Starfire and Beast Boy showed any emotion, both squealing at a similar pitch.

'Get back here now. Both of you.' Robin merely said, shutting down the link.

'Get any vibes from him?' Terra asked Charly as the picture turned to black.

'Doesn't work through pictures I'm afraid. Ah well, back home it is.' He set of walking.

When they reached the exit of the cave Terra stopped, Charly turned and went back.

'What? Second thoughts?' He asked.

'No, just thought it would be quicker to go by rock.' She replied, ripping the chunk they were standing on from the ground, causing Charly to grab for her as he lost his balance.

Helping him stand upright again she sped off towards the tower.

'Geo-kinetics rock.' Charly said, from his precarious perch.

'Please don't start the bad puns right after I wake up.' Terra beseeched him.

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Starfire and Beast Boy leapt from their seats when they heard the door hiss open, turning to see their friends, one old, one new.

Robin was the last to turn round, following closely behind Raven, who had an unreadable look on her face that didn't bode well.

'So, I guess welcome back to the land of the living.' He shot at Terra, who nodded towards him.

'Now, care to explain how you did this?' He had turned to Charly, who was looking like a small boy at school, being questioned about some bad deed.

'I don't know, Robin. Really.' He told the leader simply, glancing at the ecstatic face of Starfire for a little hope boost.

'It is tremendous that you have returned to us!' Starfire shouted, rushing forwards to embrace the newly-resurrected Titan.

'Totally.' Was all Beast Boy could add, he seemed to be fighting himself not to hug her as well.

'Are we gonna stand around exchanging niceties or are you going to see about this suit, Cyborg?' Charly asked everyone, tapping one of Terra's metal shoulder-pads.

'On it.' Cyborg ushered Terra out of the room and Charly moved to sit down. He was stopped by both Robin and Raven.

'First point. Don't order my team around. Second. Did you think you were being clever, freeing her?' Robin confronted him.

'Answer one. Sorry, Sir. Answer two. No, I went to pay respect to my old friend and happened to notice some energy knocking about in there. I'm not sure what happened after that, I got excited, powers spiked. Then poof! Instant Terra, just add demon-power. By the way, clever? What's that supposed to mean?' Charly was staring coldly at his leader.

'Oh nothing, justthat we try everything we can, including powers like yours and nothing works. You waltz in like you own the city and set her free with no effort. It's more than a little suspicious.' Robin stepped forwards.

'You wanna take this outside, shorty? Go ahead, lets make your odd vendetta official.' Charly's eyes were ablaze, ready to defend himself.

Robin considered attacking but decided it would be better to snort dismissively and storm out to see how Cyborg was doing.

'I don't believe him! This can only be good and he's treating me like I killed a puppy in front of him!' Charly slammed himself into the couch and was shortly joined by Raven.

'You know he's been on edge recently and it is more than a little odd.' She tried to reason.

'It'sexactly the same as yourhealing power, onlyinstead ofclosing wounds or fixing bones, it boosts life energy to an acceptable level.' He said angrily.

'That's an interesting way to put it.' Raven looked back at the door.

'It's coming, any day now.' Charly said quietly, 'I'll make a mistake on a mission and then it's goodbye Spitfire.' He sighed heavily and stood.

Raven considered stopping him but thought it better to let him brood.

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'Hey, how are you doing?' Terra asked Charly, who had moved from his room to the roof.

'Shouldn't I be asking you that?' He turned to see her out of Slade's suit and in a black T and jeans. 'A departure from the old shorts? Looks nice.'

'It is cold out, not that you could tell, looking at you.' She pointed to his open bright orange shirt and thin jeans. 'Thanks though.'

'It's fashion. Which ignored me completely and I was left like this.' He joked.

Terra sat on the edge of the tower with him, looking at the sunset for a long time. Finally he broke the silence in a rather unexpected way.

'Ever done something really stupid and dangerous, just to see what it would be like?' He asked her.

'What?' She glanced at him away from the beautifully red horizon.

'You know, to prove to yourself you were still… alive. That's not the best term.' He floundered for a better one.

'Like what?' Terra turned a little to give him a confused glance.

'Something like… erm… this.' He stood abruptly and turned around.

Terra watched aghast as he raised his arms and pitched backwards off the edge of the roof.

'CHARLY!' She screamed, alerting everyone in the tower to the figure falling past the window.

**What the hell kind of place is that to end a chapter? **

**A really bad one. Ha.**

**Just to further annoy you I don't think I'll be uploading the next chapter any time soon. Exams, you see.**

**Ah well.**

**Reamis.**


	8. Akwardness and Admittance

**Spitfire Chapter 8: Awkwardness and Admittance.**

**I'm back.**

**Yay for you all, you get more of my stuff.**

**No reviews, again.**

'How is he?' Terra was standing outside the medical bay as Cyborg stepped out.

'He hit his head pretty hard; he spent the last fifteen minutes telling me how much he likes Greenday.' Cyborg explained, with a small smile.

'He's worse than I thought!' Terra smiled a little, herself, and then her face fell again. 'Why didn't his powers work?' She asked the mech-man.

'The adrenaline in his system, triggered by the jump, probably stopped him from concentrating enough to slow him down as much as he wanted. At least he's ok though.' Cyborg was eyeing Terra suspiciously; she seemed to be welling up at the thought of Charly injuring himself.

'You have a thing for him, don't you?' He asked suddenly, his face breaking into a large grin.

'What? No! Alright yes, maybe a little, we have history. But if you say this to anyone I'll kill you.' She gave up, something about Cyborg's smile made her unable to lie to him.

'Hey, it's cool with me, heck; if I was a girl I know I'd have a crush on him.' Cyborg joked.

'Oh really?' Terra's smile was back.

'Yeah, it's that accent. Girls go crazy for British guys.' **(A.N. Just thought I'd mention that this is a complete generalisation about American girls that I got from way too much TV, if I'm wrong tell me in a review. If I'm right, tell me anyway.) **He set off to report to the rest of the team. 'You can go in and see him if you like, but he's still a little confused.'

'Thanks.' She shouted after him, entering the darkened room.

She moved over to the bed, where the figure of Charly lay, looking very relaxed despite the bandage around his head.

'Hey Charly.' Terra pulled a chair over and sat next to the bed.

'Huh? Oh hi… erm… Damn! This happened with… thingy… as well.' He obviously meant Cyborg.

'It's Terra, how are you feeling?' Terra was fighting herself not to slap him for being so stupid.

'Sorry, Terra. To answer your question, I've been better, but I've had worse.' The sparkle in his vivid red eyes seemed to steady for a moment. 'I kinda float in and out of lucidity.' He explained to the blonde girl.

'Right, you know you were telling Cyborg how good Greenday were a few minutes ago?' She giggled slightly at the image.

'I what? Oh no, I'll never live that down, I'll have to listen to some death metal when I'm up.' His smile was massive, then it wavered.

'Why did you do it?' Terra asked, becoming concerned.

'Do… what?' Charly's eyes were flicking about the room in confusion again.

'Nothing, never mind. I can't bear to see you like this.' She stood, welling up again.

'I apologise if I cause you distress, my love.' She heard Charly again.

Spinning back around to look him straight in the eye, her face confused.

'What did you call me?' She asked.

'Ever since you let me sleep in your cave those years ago I've known I should be with you. You could say… I'm in love with you.' He whipped his head to the left and watched some invisible thing float around.

'I…erm… feel better, ok?' With that Terra practically ran from the room.

'_Oh my god, what did he say?' _Her mind was still reeling from what he had told her.

'_Nothing, he's delirious, not himself, don't think about it.'_ A reasonable part of her thought.

'_You saw his eyes, they weren't flickering, he was acting. He loves you!' _A more irrational portion shouted.

'No he doesn't.' She said out loud.

'Think she bought it?' Devious shouted from inside Charly's head.

'_I hope so, then if she doesn't feel the same we can blame it on the head injury. I like you devious, good idea to ask Cyborg to tell her we were delirious.'_ Charly thought.

'Yeah, but now there's someone who knows.' Timid piped in.

'_Yeah, but it's Cy, he won't tell anyone.' _Charly trusted the half-robot more than anyone else in the tower, at least with this kind of thing.

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'Dude, he asked you to do what?' Beast Boy was on the verge of hysterical laughter at the perfect scheme.

'I know, even you have to admit, Raven, that was fantastically devious.' Cyborg was chuckling as well.

'Yes, it probably was.' Raven intoned, without looking up.

The door slid open at that point, revealing a very confused looking Terra.

'How is he?' Robin asked from behind his newspaper.

'He's uh… still confused.' She told him, moving to the couch where she sat and stared at the wall for a long time.

'What was that word you said earlier, Cy? To describe how it's the same both ways.' Beast Boy was bursting to just blurt the plan to Terra.

'Mutual. Like if a feeling is mutual both people feel the same.' He explained this without taking his eyes off Terra.

Raven, bored with the hints, finally spoke up.

'Terra, your emotions are distracting. You like my brother, deal with it or take it elsewhere please.' She shot a knowing smile at Cyborg.

'I…' She was about to lie, but thought better of it. 'Ok, I do. I don't know why.' She turned to the rest of the team.

'You have history together.' Robin offered, again without putting down the paper.

'He is a kind person.' Starfire put in her point.

'He's cute,' Beast Boy's comment gained him stares from everyone, 'What, I'm not allowed to notice if a guy is good-looking?' He sunk into the sofa.

'The accent?' Cyborg shouted with a huge grin.

All eyes fell on Raven.

'You're asking me to describe why my brother is attractive.' Was all she said.

'Oh, sorry.'

'It's all of those and more.' Terra slumped back into the couch, 'But he probably doesn't feel the same.'

'Probably?' Cyborg's grin was so huge it practically ripped his face in two.

'Well, he said… something… while I was with him, but it may have been the bump on the head talking.' She explained, blushing very slightly.

'What did he say?' Beast Boy asked, wide eyed with excitement.

'He said that ever since we met he thought… I might be the one. He said he was in love with me.' She had turned a very deep scarlet.

The door slid open and Charly stumbled in, leaning on the wall for a second before trying to make his way down the few steps into the room.

'How is everyone, then?' He shouted suddenly, 'What have I missed? I want all the gossip.' His gaze rested momentarily on Cyborg, who gave him a nod, then moved to Terra, who was blushing madly.

'_It worked!'_ He shouted in his head.

'You shouldn't be up, you're still out of shape.' Terra stood, looking concerned.

'Nonsense, I'm fine, I've been lucid since you left and I heal quickly. For the record, Greenday suck.' He grinned.

'You sure you're ok?' Cyborg asked him.

'Yep. But now I'm bored, so anyone want to catch a movie?' He asked the room.

'Sure.'

'Yeah.'

'Glorious.'

'Absolutely.'

'Raven?' He rounded on his sister.

'Sure, why not.' She gave in, putting down her book.

----------------------------------------------------

'So, 'Attack of the Ooze-Monsters' or 'Killer Robots that can't be Destroyed'?' Charly looked at the posters for said films, but not really paying attention, he needed to think of a way to tell Terra about his feelings.

'Either, it doesn't matter.' Raven said, always positive.

'Ooze-Monsters!' Shouted Cyborg and Beast Boy together.

'The monsters of ooze do sound enjoyable.' Starfire had long gotten over her irrational fear of horror films and now enjoyed them, perhaps even more so than Beast Boy.

'Sure, fine.' Terra kept casting glances at Charly, she noticed whenever she looked he was looking back, often with a charming smile.

'Er… You guys go ahead, I'll catch up. Terra, can I talk to you?' He asked her, a oddly glazed look on his face.

'Charly and Terra, sittin' in a tree, K I S S I N… Ow! Charly!' Beast Boy's hair was singed slightly from the small flare.

The other Titans went ahead, leaving Charly and Terra alone.

'I uh… Did I say anything… odd when I was out?' He asked, fiddling with his shirt.

'You uh… You told me something but I don't think you were yourself.' Terra was beginning to blush.

'_She's so cute when she does that.'_ He thought.

'You love her, she's cute when she does anything.' Love shouted inside his head.

Terra watched him with interest as his expression changed during his silent conversation.

'Did I tell you anything about my feelings?' He was trying the tactful approach, he wasn't good with girls.

'Yes, why are you asking me this?' Terra asked him, bordering on anger.

'I…wasn't out. Ever, I was totally lucid the whole time. I was going to see how you felt and then blame it on the delirium.' He admitted, blushing so much his eyes started to flicker with small flames.

She simply stared at him for a few moments, whilst Timid started whimpering in his head.

'I guess we should catch up with the guys, come on.' His face fell and he turned, his heart dropping like he did from the tower roof.

He was across the cinema lobby when he heard her shout after him.

'I feel the same way.' The phrase that proved, to him at least, that fate and life didn't hate him after all. He ran back to her.

'You feel the same? Wow, that's the best news I've ever had.' He looked as though he were about to collapse. Or explode. Or both.

'Since that first night, when you told me about yourself, I felt a connection to you. Charly…' She stopped.

'You needn't say anymore,' He placed his finger on her lips, 'I understand.' His smile was big enough to fit the whole theatre into.

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'How long are they gonna be? The movies about to start.' Beast Boy whined just as the door at the back of the cinema opened.

The Titans watched as their friends took two seats at the back, Charly had his arm around Terra, who's head was resting on his shoulder. They both held such contented smiles it was a shame to turn back when the movie started.

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Walking back to the tower after the movie, Terra's normally straight hair was messy and flyaway and Charly's eyes were glowing enough to light a small patch of ground in front of the group. He also seemed to now be wearing lipstick, Terra's shade.

Their hands intertwined, they lagged at the back of the group, gaining glances from the other Titans occasionally.

'So, are you guys like, dating now?' Beast Boy dropped back to ask them.

'Yes.' They said together.

'Ok.' Beast Boy obviously wanted a longer answer but was being denied.

'Are you ok?' Terra asked her new boyfriend, 'Back in the old days something would have exploded or incinerated when I told you I loved you too.'

Charly's smile gave something away, but she didn't know what.

'It was a little too bright when we came out of the cinema, wasn't it?' He chuckled, looking down at the girl next to him.

'_God, she's beautiful.'_ He practically shouted mentally.

'No argument here.' Lust shouted.

Terra looked back at the cinema but saw nothing amiss, though it was a little brighter.

'The sky, my love, the sky.' He told her, she looked up and gasped, causing the other Titans to look and also gasp.

Floating in the night sky was an enormous flaming rose, underneath were the words; 'For Terra.' in red flames.

'It's magnificent.' The geo-kinetic whispered.

The other Titans nodded, except Robin who muttered something about a waste of energy and carried on walking.

'Lets get back to the tower, it'syou must becold out here.' Charly and Terra turned together and Charly wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

'Not when I have you to keep me warm.' she leaned into him a little more and they set off again.

'This has been the best few months of my whole life!' Charly shouted atthe sky.

**Aw,how sweet, he was awkward and scared.**

**How romantic was that rose thing? Very.**

**This is going to be a fun situation to write.**

**REVIEW ME!**

**Reamis.**


	9. Mistakes

**Chapter 9. Mistakes.**

**You may have noticed I'm getting less enthusiastic with every bold bit I do. That's because NO-ONE REVIEWS! I've had about 300 hits this week, why only 9 reviews all together?**

**I might be having fun with this chapter, a few jokes here and there. Everyone has to be random sometimes, even a guy who ripped a man to pieces and spent the better part of his life running from his conscience. Then again I might not, I'm in a flippant mood.**

**Bah, chapter.**

Charly lifted his head to the sound of talking, plates and cutlery, light streaming into the window in front of him. He was on the couch.

'_What the hell am I doing here?'_ He thought.

'You were up talking with Terra until about 1:30, then she went to bed, you stayed here.' Wisdom, it seems, never misses a thing.

'What's with all the noise? My head is pounding.' He lifted his head to see over the back of the sofa, it was evidently morning, as the Titans were involved in their normal breakfast arguments.

'You haven't done anything to warrant a headache.' Cyborg stopped his argument for a second.

'It happens if I over-do the power.' Charly explained, gaining an 'I knew it' eye from Robin.

'That rose.' Raven spoke just as the door slid open.

A still-tired looking Terra stumbled in, rubbing sleep out of her eyes.

'Totally worth it.' Charly smiled, moving over to her.

He leant down slightly and kissed her cheek.

'What do you want for breakfast?' He asked her, moving to the cupboards and grabbing anything she could possibly ask for, including tofu.

'Toast, thanks.' She followed him to return his kiss and moved to the sofa while he threw two slices of bread of his shoulder onto a plate. On the way they seemed to have toasted themselves.

For a while the Titans were content to sit around and do nothing, until out of sheer frustration Starfire suddenly spoke.

'Have anyone else noticed that we have not done battle with wrong-doers of late?' She inquired.

As though waiting for someone to notice, the alarm started to blare. Something was happening in the city.

'Disturbance on the bridge,' Robin shouted, tapping on the keyboard as though it would do something, 'no reports on who though. Titans go!'

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'I can't believe it; I had a whole day planned. This had better be someone worth me missing online videogames for.' Cyborg complained on the drive to the bridge.

Charly stared out of the window at the fast approaching destination and spotted a flash of bronze against the black figure that was undoubtedly the one causing trouble.

'I think it is someone worthy.' He said sombrely, remembering who had a description like that.

Robin's voice came over the comm, he sounded more stressed than ever.

'It's him, he's back!' He shouted.

'Slade.' Charly breathed.

Stepping from the car, the Titans lined up behind Robin, who had got here faster on the R-cycle.

'Slade! What are you doing now?' Robin shouted challengingly.

'Ah,' The smoothly sinister voice came from behind a two-tone mask that gleamed in the sun, 'both my apprentices _and _the daughter of my old… Contributor.' He nodded to Robin, Terra and Raven as he referred to them.

'I must say, I didn't expect to see you again, my dear.' He addressed to Terra.

Charly stepped in front of her, arms wide, jacket flailing in the wind and eyes aflame.

'Don't even speak to her.' He growled in a tone that even made Raven shudder.

'So, this is 'Spitfire'? I'm slightly disappointed, I was expecting someone more imposing.' Slade mocked, flexing his hand.

'You're disappointed? Here I thought you were someone the old man had _resurrected _to do his bidding. I was expecting someone worth worrying about.' Charly mocked back, taking a step forwards.

'Be careful, Spitfire.' Robin hissed at him, readying his bo-staff.

'Didn't know you cared.' Charly shot back.

'I don't have time for this. Robots, attack!' Slade yelled, as hundreds of robots seemed to appear from nowhere.

'Titans, go!' Robin yelled, jamming his staff through a robot's head.

Beast Boy transformed into the beast and began to smash multitudes of robots while Cyborg blasted at them with both sonic cannons.

Starfire threw a salvo of star bolts at the group surrounding Slade, causing him to retreat further, closely followed by Charly.

Just as he grabbed Slade's arm, causing him to spin, an innocent bystander got in the way of Slade's arm and was knocked over the railing of the bridge. The bystander was about 7 years old.

'I'm going to…' Charly began.

'Spitfire! The child!' Starfire screamed at him from the air, causing him to drop Slade and spin.

'Crap!' He shouted, diving over the railing, forgetting about his quarry entirely.

He knew at his current speed he wouldn't catch up to the kid in time and so created a jet of fire to propel him faster. Grabbing the child from the air, he managed to flip round and pull up fast enough to escape the deep water with nothing more than a bruised and bloody back. **(Hitting water flat-on at that speed would cause your skin to split; it's like hitting a wall at 180MPH).**

He landed back on the bridge and set the child down, who ran back to his near hysterical parents.

Surveying the scene, no major damage had been caused, but Slade had escaped.

For this reason Robin was definitely not happy.

'What the hell?' He shouted, storming up to Charly, 'You had him and you let go? Why?' He was practically foaming at the mouth.

'A child was about to die. The choice was simple; you would have done the same.' Charly dusted himself off and finally noticed how painful his back was. Obviously not thinking straight, Robin countered;

'No I wouldn't!' He yelled, without realising.

'You would not have saved the child?' Starfire landed next to the crazed leader, arms folded

'It was a choice between keeping hold and saving a life. I would never let someone die, even if it meant letting Trigon himself go.' Charly explained, trying to calm Robin down.

Robin turned to leave, but not before having his last word.

'You didn't have that hang-up two years ago.' He murmured.

'Oh, that's it!' Charly yelled, leaping for the short teen's back.

Robin turned instantly and landed a punch on the pyrokinetic's nose, causing him to step back, he was about to launch a fiery attack of his own when Raven appeared in front of him.

'Move!' Charly growled, glaring over her shoulder and wiping blood from his nose.

'So you can kill Robin? Not going to happen, snap out of it.' She was _almost_ pleading with him.

'Why do you hate me so much, Robin?' He spat the last word like it was made of acid.

'I don't trust you. You killed a man, who knows what you would do if you got angry enough.' Robin's hand was itching next to his smoke disks.

'You think I don't know that?' Charly shouted, surprisingly, 'my self control might not be enough and one day it could happen again. Or worse, I could not vent my anger at all and end up destroying the whole city in one huge rage induced explosion.' Charly's voice soften slightly as he related his fears.

'You've done nothing for this team, you're treating this like some sort of vacation.' Robin yelled again.

Regaining his anger Charly's hair burst into flames.

'What? Look at who's stood behind you. Now tell me truthfully whether you thought you'dever see her again!' Charly motioned to Terra. 'Nothing for the team, huh?'

Robin stood for a moment, then turned with a sigh.

'I have something I need to do, Titans, back to the tower.' He said quietly.

As Charly stepped past him towards the car he put his arm out and without turning delivered the one phrase Charly knew would haunt him forever.

'I said Titans.' With that he strode back to his R-cycle, kicked it into life and raced back to the tower.

The other Titans stood in awe at their leader's decision and watched as Charly collapsed to his knees.

'Dude, he looks like a truck hit him.' Beast Boy commented.

'I am not sure, but I believe that was 'cold', yes?' Starfire asked.

'Icy.' Cyborg added, just as his communicator crackled into life.

'What are you guys doing? Get back here.' Robin's voice ordered.

As Cyborg reluctantly led the others minus Charly to the car Terra ran back.

'Charly!Talk to me,answer me, please.' She pleaded. Knowing he wasn't going to answer she turned, silent tears running down her cheeks.

'I know you really want to be part of the team. I'm not going to ask you to choose, I'd rather you do what you think is best. You know how to find me if you want to. Goodbye.' Charly's voice was emotionless and quiet as he stood and turned to leave.

Before he could go Terra threw her arms around his neck and kissed him frantically, as though hoping to undo what Robin had said. She finally broke their kiss and watched as he turned, stumbling away into the night.

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'Where have you been?' Robin demanded when they entered the common room, all sombre and Terra quietly sobbing, being supported by Starfire who's face held a confusing mixture of sadness and anger.

'Man, don't do that, you know.' Cyborg walked straight past him to the sofa.

Robin eyed his team and came to rest on Terra.

'Terra, you have to understand…' He began.

'Don't speak to me, I need to be alone.' She ran out of the room, a fresh wave of sobbing overcoming her as she entered her room, causing her to fall to her knees.

Back in the common room Beast Boy had found the courage to approach Robin.

'Dude, was that really necessary? I mean, you ruined his life and it only took…' He replayed the scene in his head, 'three words.'

'What's done is done, there's nothing I can do now.' Robin sighed. It was beginning to dawn on him what he'd done and how it had affected the team. Terra would no doubt never speak to him again and Raven was avoiding eye-contact.

'You could go find him, apologise and ask him to come back. Maybe.' Beast Boy tried. His answer was another sigh and Robin leaving.

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It had started to rain as Charly was trudging the city streets but he didn't mind, the rain helped to hide his tears.

As he passed a bar some girls came out of it, obviously underage and a little drunk.

'Hey!' One shouted, 'that's thatBritish Teen Titan… whatsisname!'

'Shhpitfire!' Another slurred.

Charly kept on moving, not even glancing at them.

'Hey, big hero guy, you're cute, wanna have a good time?' Asked the first in a not-so-seductive tone.

'You have me confused with someone else.' Charly finally said.

'You aren't Spitfire?' The second asked, dumbly.

'No,' Charly replied, flipping up his collar as though to keep out the wind and setting off again.

'He's dead.'

**I hope you liked it.**

**We finally get the culmination of Robin's odd vendetta.**

**The scene with the 'I said Titans' bit has actually been playing non-stop in my head like a scene from the cartoon, with very dramatic music and fantastic light effects and camera angles. ****I tried to portray it but it's better for people to put their own slant on it.**

**Testament to how it should be, I've actually had to fight back tears whilst trying to develop the scene in my mind.**

**Anyway, review me.**

**Thanks. Reamis, out.**


	10. Return

**Chapter 10. Return.**

**Finally, a nice round number.**

**1 review, of sorts, from SHSW360 who remains what seems to be a fan of my work.**

**Aside from that;**

**I don't own the Titans, only Charly/Spitfire and the story.**

**CHAPTER!**

The roof of Titans Tower was a mess of noise and movement for most of the afternoon, the Titans playing round after heated round of rooftop volleyball.

As the third day since Charly's dismissal came to a close the very tired teens ventured back into the tower proper. Terra had begun speaking to Robin again, though only at Charly's request. He had been leaving her notes in her room, which he no doubt put there during a bout of time freezing power.

'Starfire, aren't you coming?' Robin asked the alien girl, who had turned to the horizon.

'I wished to watch the sunset, you may proceed.' She told him courteously.

'Ok, well don't stay up here too long.' With that he made his way back into the suddenly very empty feeling tower.

For a long time Starfire enjoyed the sunset and the peace of the scene until something behind her made her spin.

'Hey Starfire.' Charly dropped to the roof from the top of one of the large ventilators.

'Charly! I do not think…that we should be talking. Robin…' She began.

'I'm still your friend Star; I'm just not a Titan. Besides, Robin didn't tell you guys not to talk to me did he?' His face broke into a grin, which faltered a little at the look on her face.

'He did, huh?' He moved to the edge and sat down, gesturing for Starfire to join him.

'That was just after you were removed from the team, he is I believe the term is 'coming around'? Should I fetch Terra? I could say I merely wished for her to observe the sunset. That is something I would do, is it not?' Star offered, moving to leave.

'No!' Charly shouted. 'Don't. If I saw her now I wouldn't be able to leave again. The Boy Wonder wouldn't be best pleased.' He smiled a little at how Starfire was learning to take advantage of her naïve stereotype.

'Where have you been?' Starfire asked, taking a seat next to him on the ledge and gazing at the now purple horizon.

'Around, everywhere and nowhere. Robin can't patrol a whole city on his own. I memorised his routes, I can take a different one and cover the city more effectively.' He explained, seeing her confused look.

'Where have you been sleeping, then?' She asked, genuinely concerned.

'Again, nowhere. I've only had about two hours since I was… ejected. On a roof in the city.' He said nonchalantly.

'That is unacceptable! You should not have to do that.' Starfire was outraged.

'Nowhere else I can go Star; I'm not going back to the caves, too many memories. I'm also not leaving the city. Actually I got a job; it's not important what though.' He created a small version of himself and let it pace around on his hand before suddenly making a fist. A lick of flame was all that signified it's end.

'Perhaps I should tell Terra you were here at least?' Starfire asked again.

'Sure, but please tell her why I couldn't see her. It would only make her life here harder. No, He would only make her life harder, if he knew.' He clenched a fist. 'Oh, and give her this.' He held out a small glass phial with a flat bottom, inside which was a tiny rose, immaculately detailed, as though carved into red fire.

'It is breathtaking.' Starfire whispered in awe.

'Thank you. Robin is coming to check on you, you should hide that,' He stood and stepped to the shadow behind the door to the roof, 'I'll be back before you know it.'

He stepped backwards into the shadow just as the door opened, Robin almost sprinting out straight past the hidden Charly.

'Are you ok, Star? Beast Boy said he heard you talking to someone.' Robin glanced around.

'I was merely… singing to myself.' Starfire covered, casting a glance at where Charly had been stood. He was gone.

'Well come on in, we're watching a movie.' Robin set off again, Star quicklyin tow.

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'Dude, I can't believe you brought me here!' Beast Boy was outraged that Cyborg had managed to get him to try out a new fast-food place. The place was called 'I Love Meat'.

'I could be watching 'Attack of the Monkey Guys' right now and you brought me to a meat joint!'

'They do good vegetarian food, I hear.' Cyborg attempted.

'Oh, ok.' They entered the door and waltzed up to the counter; the kid working there had his back to them and seemed to be writing in a notebook.

'Er, hello! Can I get some service over here?' Beast Boy shouted impatiently.

'Oh jeez,' the kid sighed and without turning rattled off his obviously pre-written welcome note, with a few minor changes.

'Welcome to 'I love meat', where the customer is always wrong, the staff always disgruntled and the burgers contain half your recommended life-time amount of grease, what can I take your money for?' The British accent gave him away instantly and Charly turned.

'Dude! You work here?' Beast Boy shouted in disbelief.

'No,' Charly's eyes narrowed in hatred of everything that moves, 'I merely though it would be a funny joke to get behind the counter and pretend that I hated my life.' He sighed and then finally shouted;

'ARGH! Screw this! John, I quit!' He leapt over the counter and walked out, followed by the green titan and a reluctant half-robot.

'But, my meat!'

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'You're coming back to the tower with us; it's time Robin did something.' Cyborg said, catching up.

'No I'm not.' Charly replied in a monotone.

'You have to; he's actually been on the lookout for you during his patrols.' Beast Boy added.

'He obviously isn't looking very hard.' Charly intoned.

'You know, you're a lot like your sister.' The green teen noticed.

'Ok, I'll come back, but I'm going to be avoiding Robin and possibly even hiding from him.' Charly gave up, his strength of will had fallen these past couple of days.

'Sweet!' With that he was bundled into the car and they sped off.

John left the back room of the restaurant.

'You say something Charly? Charly? Oh, there goes another one.'

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The door of the common room slid open, causing a small cheep of fear from Starfire, presumably the movie was still on.

Cyborg stepped in, surveying, followed by Beast Boy, who commando rolled his way down the steps, leapt up and swung his head around dramatically.

'CLEAR!' He shouted suddenly.

'I know, I've been gone two days and you've already forgotten what powers I have.' Charly stepped through the door apprehensively.

'You have returned to us! Wonderful!' Starfire shouted from her seat, not tearing her eyes from the screen (she really loves those horror movies).

'Hey.' Raven almost forced herself to say.

'Welcome back, Charly.' Terra said from behind him, having just entered the room. She pulled him into a passionate kiss that lasted until Beast Boy wolf-whistled from his seat on the couch.

'I owe you for that.' Charly said, finally smiling.

'It feels good to be back, there's a part of me here.' He moved to the couch but was stopped by Cyborg.

'You need to see the improvements we've made since you left!' He said, dragging him from the room.

'It's only been two days!' Was all anyone heard before the door slid closed again.

'So, what have you managed to do in the grand total of 48 hours?' He asked Cyborg and Beast Boy, who had somehow managed to get from the couch to the door in a split second.

'This room, here.' Cyborg pointed, the pressed the button next to the door and watched it slide open.

'Isn't this Robin's office?' Charly asked, peering into the pitch black room.

'Yes!' Shouted Beast Boy, pushing him in and locking the door.

'I swear if you don't open this door I'll melt through and kill you!' They heard from the other side.

Snickering, they left Charly trapped in the one place he didn't want to be.

'I'm going to rip him apart!' He sighed to himself.

'No you won't, that's not like you at all.' Wisdom said from somewhere in his mind.

'No you won't, that's not like you, Charly.' A voice said from behind the shadow shrouded desk. A voice Charly was more than a little worried by.

'Robin? What the hell is this?' Charly asked the darkness, adjusting his powers to help him spot the leader's energy signature.

'I needed to speak to you.' Robin said calmly, hitting the switch on his lamp. He was leaning on his desk, looking very apprehensive.

'So you had the Chuckle Brothers kidnap me?' Charly asked, furious.

'The who? Never mind. There's something I had to say.' He paused as though rethinking.

'I'm flattered, Robin, but I though same-sex marriages were illegal in Jump?' Charly cracked, causing Robin to chuckle a little.

'I don't know how to word this subtly, so here it is. The team wants you back. I want you back, you're an asset to the team and if you went rogue we'd have to call up the Justice League to lend us a hand stopping you.' Robin offered, trying to make a joke.

'That wouldn't be a pretty phone-call, I hear you and the old mentor don't speak that much.' Charly quipped.

'I see now.' Robin said contemplatively.

'See what?' Charly asked.

'I was blinded by the fact you had committed a crime, I have issues with that, as you know. The guys kept telling me that the tower was quieter and more dull with you gone. Now I can see it.' Robin told him.

'Sounds like you're coming onto me a little there, Rob.' Charly took a step back.

'So are you coming back or not?' Robin stood.

'I don't know, I have work tomorrow and John's counting on me to flip burgers.' Charly joked.

'You quit, we have cameras in 'I love Meat'.' Robin told him, smiling.

'That's not detective work Robin, that's being a weirdo.' Charly shook the extended hand.

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Charly re-entered the main room, followed by Robin.

Charly's face didn't bode well and Raven could feel a deep depression from him, as well as anger.

'I think they had another fight.' She told Terra, who was sat next to her, they had gotten to be quite good friends since Terra's return.

'Well, I'm staying.' Charly said suddenly, not brightening at all. 'But it's only for a set period.'

'How long?' Cyborg asked, looking at Robin's equally unreadable face.

'Well, we came to an agreement, after some talk and decided he could stay until…' He glanced around the group and smiled suddenly, 'Until there's no crime in Jump City at all.'

'I told it would be hilarious, you should have seen your faces!' Charly had almost collapsed from laughing so hard.

'That wasn't funny!' Terra shouted, marching up to him and aiming a slap for his face.

He caught her hand and pulled her into him.

'Shut up and kiss me.' He said, smoothly.

This time Beast Boy didn't whistle and the kiss lasted far longer, only breaking when Terra needed air.

'Don't you breathe?' She asked her boyfriend after a huge gasp.

'You are my oxygen darling.' He said, staring deep into her eyes.

'We'regoingtomyroombackinafewhours!' Terra shouted to the others, dragging Charly after her out of the room.

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Charly re-entered the room, his hair was messed up and his shirt was on backwards. Terra's hair was flyaway and she looked exhausted.

'Does your jaw ache?' Charly asked her, pulling her next to him as they walked down the steps.

'Not my jaw, no.' She answered, smiling at him.

'No more!' Raven said before they could continue.

The two glanced at each other and decided it was time for the first session of Raven-baiting of his return.

'Doesn't matter, that pain will be gone by the end of the week.' He began.

'Not if we do that again.' She offered.

'True, but that was pretty wild.'

'You were fantastic, though.'

'Thanks, I never knew you could do that with your… OW!' A toaster slammed into Charly's head, he turned just in time to see the black covered toaster smash into his nose.

'Welcome home.' his sister offered.

**Ah, innuendo. Sport of kings.**

**Review me while I do other things.**

**Oh, if anyone wants to know I now have a Myspace account. So if you like me enough you can add me.**

**your time. **

**Reamis, out.**


	11. Music FILLER!

**Chapter 11. Music.**

**I'm just churning these out and not waiting for reviews now.**

**Apart from the beginning, I decided this chapter should be fun. So it is randomly about musical talent within the team.**

**PLEASE NOTE: That this chapter will add nothing at all to the story and I wrote it because I was bored and between major points. (The firing of Charly, his return and the next one that I can't tell you about yet.) If this were the show it would be a filler episode akin to Deep Six, but not as bad.**

**I own Charly and the story line but nothing else. I also don't own PRS (you'll see why that's important later.)**

'It's Slade again, he's in STAR labs!' Robin was hitting the keyboard like a crazy person.

'Great, another crack at him!' Charly shouted, leaping from his position and running to the garage and the T-car.

'You took your time.' He said jokily to Raven as she phased through the roof.

'I've only ever stopped time once; you can do it at will.' She answered, getting into the back seat.

'Cyborg, hurry your ass up!' He shouted at the approaching figure.

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'Charly,' Robin's voice over the comm. was saying, 'He doesn't know that you rejoined, so when we get there stay hidden and we can surprise him.'

'Got it. Be the shadow of a ghost.' Charly answered from the passenger seat of the T-car.

Screeching to a halt, the Titans piled out of the car, all except Charly, who slid out afterwards and flitted after them, having slowed the relative temporal dimension to half-speed. Even if he was spotted he'd be gone quick enough for even Slade to think it was a trick of the eye.

'Slade! Show yourself!' Robin ordered upon entering the room, bo-staff extended.

'Titans, I thought I'd be seeing you soon, I see the Brit hasn't returned.' Slade's confidence would have been funny, if he wasn't dangerous.

'We haven't seen him, though I'm surprised you haven't been keeping track of him.' Robin lied.

'Yes, he is quite careful, no matter, he poses no threat.' Slade again exuded a dark confidence.

Charly listened intently from his hiding place, getting angrier by the second.

'Ah Terra, how are you holding up now your boyfriend is gone?' Slade addressed her. Charly had to hold back from shouting.

'He was your strength, wasn't he? How easy would it be to bring you back to my side n…' He was cut off as an enormous shadow seemed to slam him into the wall behind him. The shadow passed as soon as it had come and the Titans saw Slade embedded into an outline of himself in the solid concrete.

'What was…' He was again stopped, as a figure stepped from the shadows surrounding him.

The face of the figure was contorted with hatred and rage and the four red eyes were glowing so intensely it was painful to look directly at them.

'What did I tell you about speaking to her?' The voice came from the figure, though his mouth did not move and the sound seemed to be coming from everywhere.

The voice was filled with such hatred and menace that even Raven, used to her own outbreaks, shuddered violently.

'I told you not to speak to her.' Charly answered for Slade, who was petrified despite his time in the service of Trigon, 'That meant ever.'

Charly's hands were a blur as he landed punch after flaming punch onto his incapacitated foe. He stopped punching and placed his hand in a claw shape on Slade's now bleeding chest.

'Want to know what you own heart tastes like?' He asked, pushing slightly so his nails cut into the flesh. His eyes narrowed and he began to chuckle evilly.

'Spitfire! Stop it!' Robin shouted, running up to the pyrokinetic but stopping as he saw his face.

'Oh, no.' Was all he could say as Charly turned back.

'Spitfire isn't home right now, can I take a message?' Rage asked, using Charly's body as a vessel .

'Fight him, Charly, you don't want to do this!' Terra had run over but was keeping a safe distance.

'I…don't…have…contrARGH!' Charly grabbed his head as though in intense pain.

'Then take it, you can't do this.' Robin was urging.

'I won't do…this…again!' Charly shouted, a flash of flame and the four eyes had become two again, he stood perfectly still for a while then collapsed.

'Cyborg, Raven get him back to the tower, Beast Boy, Starfire and I will take Slade to jail, I don't think he'll be getting up from that for a while.' Robin ordered, gathering up the unconscious villain.

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Charly lay on a bed, holding Terra to him, the room was darkened but light was streaming from under the door, it was tinted red for some reason.

'They wouldn't leave us alone, my dear. It was necessary.' He told Terra, staring at the red liquid running from the hall outside.

'But now we can be alone forever.' He continued, staring into the pale face and lifeless eyes of his lover, he grabbed the knife and brought it to his wrist.

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'No!' Charly bolted upright in the bed of the medical bay and was instantly attended by everyone, who had been outside the room, discussing what had happened.

'You're awake, then.' Robin noted.

'How did he get to be a detective?' Charly asked, holding his head, which was throbbing.

'Bad dream?' Terra asked, coming to his side and taking his hand.

'Yeah, they're common though, nothing for you guys to worry about.' Charly moved to get out of the bed.

'Anything that bothers you is something for me to worry about.' Terra said, trying to force him to lie back down.

'That's sweet, but I'm fine. I just need to speak to my Rage, is all.' Charly crossed his legs on the bed and closed his eyes.

'_Rage! What the hell did you do?'_ He shouted mentally.

'Nothing you didn't let me do.' Rage answered in a growl.

'_I swear I'm gonna lock you in my subconscious unless you stop doing things like that.'_ Charly threatened.

'I hate you.' Rage's voice said, but seemed to be retreating.

'_Ok, what was with the dream?'_ He asked everyone.

'Dunno.' Knowledge said out of character.

'You should ask Raven, she knows about dreams.' Wisdom said from behind Knowledge.

'Doesn't mean anything, let it go.' Flippant shouted.

'_I think I like his best.'_ Charly told them. _'I'll see what happens and take your advice at a later date.'_

'Well, Rage hates me and no-one will explain anything to me.' He told the assembled Titans.

'I think you should tell me what happened.' Robin's face had regained that distrustful look.

'Oh now, come on! You can't tell me that those weren't extreme circumstances!' Charly shouted.

'Well, yes, but that still doesn't excuse what you were about to do.' Robin crossed his arms.

'About to! You helped me stop, if I leave the Titans who's going to stop me then?' Charly pleaded.

'Whoa! I wasn't going to kick you out again. I meant you should tell us why it hurt you to take control back.' Robin defended.

'Oh. If you were an inter-dimensional demon would you make it easy for people to break your control?' Charly explained.

'Right, are you ok then?' Cyborg asked him.

'Alright enough for pizza, what d'you say? I'll buy.' He shouted, leaping from his seat on the bed.

'Great!'

'Glorious!'

'Cool!'

'Sure!'

'Absolutely.'

'Why not?'

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Walking through the city after the pizza (Beast Boy had somehow gotten hold of some vodka and spiked Cyborg's drink, which is why he wasn't driving. **Remember to stay safe, kids**) the team were stopped by a suddenly very excited Beast Boy.

'Dudes! Check it out!' He pointed to the window of a guitar shop and hopped from foot to foot.

'What? Wait, you're interested in guitars?' Charly asked him.

'Beast Boy's quite good, believe it or not.' Robin told him.

'_Very_ good, I'll have you know. But look, they have the new PRS!' He rushed to the window, followed by the rest of the team who, despite not having a musical bone between them, were interested none the less.

'How do you guys know what a PRS is?' Charly asked them on their approach.

'BB never shuts up about them, do you BB? You're my best friend. I love you, man.' Cyborg was a little tipsy.

'I need to play it!' Beast Boy shouted, running into the shop, he was followed closely by Charly.

'You think they're gonna let you touch a PRS?' He asked, somewhat dejectedly.

'I'm a Titan, of course they'll let me.' Beast Boy strolled to the counter. 'I'd like to try out that new PRS you've got so wonderfully displayed, please.'

'No.' Came the answer.

'And here's why,' Charly shouted from the wall where it was hung, 'Brazilian rosewood neck, specially chosen maple-topped mahogany body, this thing'll sustain for a week.' He reached out to stroke it but restrained himself.

'What's so good about Brazilian rosewood?' Raven asked, for some reason the beautiful instrument had her captivated.

'It's the best tone wood available, they aren't allowed to cut it anymore as it comes from the rainforest. It also gives off a faint aroma of roses if you play it until it gets hot.' Charly explained.

'Why are we staring at a guitar?' Robin asked suddenly.

'It's so shiny.' Beast Boy had wondered over to stand and drool next to Charly.

'Beast Boy, you must entertain us with a musical number on the 'axe' as you call it.' Starfire had floated over to a rack of Telecasters **(This happens to be the best shop in the world)** and grabbed a black one. 'Catch!' She shouted, flinging it to him, much to the displeasure of the shopkeeper. (Beast Boy had missed and her drink was also affected.)

He plugged it into a nearby amp and flew into a Sum41 track, not missing a note but there was something missing.

'Let me have a go at it.' Charly was promptly handed the guitar by a smug looking Beast Boy.

'This'll be great, he must suck.' He said aside to Cyborg, who snorted a little.

Charly strummed the open strings, adjusted the tuning pegs to perfect pitch by ear and proceeded to wail and shred so fast Yngwie Malmsteen would cry.

When he finished the male Titans were stood in awe and the shopkeeper was fighting back tears.

'Dude,' Beast Boy began, 'You must have loads of chicks after you if you can play like that.'

'That's not the secret, girls like a bit of something sentimental, look.' He pointed to the three female Titans, who had wondered off and were looking at the brightly coloured plectrums, Raven didn't look happy.

'For example.' Charly began a slow solo in a minor key.

The mournful wails of the instrument echoed down the street outside as Charly built to a crescendo, his eyes closed in pure appreciation of the sound.

When he stopped he noticed the three girls, along with others from outside, had crowded around him.

'It's like the guitar was talking. Crying, even.' Raven said in awe.

'It was most wonderful.' Starfire's eyes had welled up.

'Here's my number.' Terra grabbed his hand and scribbled down the Tower's phone number.

'Terra, we're already dating… and I live in the same place as you.' Charly said, confused.

'Can I try?' Terra asked, shaking herself out of her music induced stupor.

Charly handed her the guitar and she broke into the riff from 'Sweet Child O' Mine'. Upon entering the verse she stopped and looked around, Charly stood staring for a second then spoke.

'Have my children.' He demanded of her.

'Maybe someday.' She replied, putting down the instrument and kissing him on the cheek.

'I meant here and now. I don't care who's watching.' He said, still dazed.

'Your sister.' Robin and Raven said together.

'Oh, right.' Charly shook his head and they proceeded to leave the shop, again, the shop-keeper was angry that they had left it in such a state. Also without buying anything.

'How exactly did we end up doing that?' Charly asked suddenly as they continued their walk back to the tower.

'I have no idea, lets pretend we didn't.' Robin said, speeding up a little.

'You know, even when I was travelling my life was more stable than this. Earlier we were fighting a major villain in a high-tech lab, then we're eating pizza and playing the guitar.' Charly was still confused as to what had happened.

'Why are you so good on the guitar? I've been travelling is not a good enough excuse.' Raven asked him.

'Music is my life, beside Terra, you guys and writing.' He said simply.

'Well, we should be getting home, it'll be dark soon. Cyborg, stand up.' Robin ordered.

They headed off into the twilight, their silhouettes that of the perfect group of friends.

**See? Pointless chapter.**

**I'm just keeping myself engaged enough with the characters to develop the next part of the story.**

**Review please, criticism welcome. Ignored but welcome.**

**Reamis, out. For now.**


	12. Confusion

**Here we go, chapter 12.**

**I'm back into it now, my 'during-exams-brain-shutdown' is over and I'm ready to actually write a consistent chapter.**

**I own everything except the Titans and any affiliates.**

Charly stared out over the bay, his eyes not really interpreting images, merely open.

It was dark but it didn't affect him, neither did the incessant rain which was falling so hard it stung bare skin.

His attention was focused entirely on his own mind and the Sigur Ros CD he had playing through his headphones.

'Does this help you?' Terra had stepped onto the roof; Beast Boy had demanded that she find Charly for movie night.

He didn't answer, his hearing impaired by the music and the sound of rain.

'Is this how you cope with what you did? Meditate in pounding rain?' She took a few steps forwards.

'Are you meditating or is it something else? You always told me that music saved you, perhaps it's true what they say; 'music soothes the savage beast'.' She moved to stand behind him and he started at the sudden influx of new energy.

'Terra! I'm sorry, were you calling? I couldn't hear, I was…absorbed.' He turned off the CD and moved to stand but she sat next to him before he could.

'Oh, you don't mind the rain?' He asked.

'I've travelled as much as you; I've learned to enjoy it as much as you do.' She told him, staring into the distance.

For a while they sat, not talking but the silence was far from uncomfortable, set to a constant backdrop of water hitting concrete it was somewhat calming.

'How do you cope, Charly? I mean, with the things you've done?' She asked him, there was an underlying context in the question.

'Why do you want to know?' Charly answered her question with his own.

'I've done things. Terrible things.' She said simply, turning away from him slightly.

'I know, I was still in Jump when you were doing them, but you weren't yourself.' Charly comforted.

'But I was! I did those things because I chose to.' She sounded like she was crying, but Charly couldn't tell in the rain.

'You chose to sacrifice yourself for the sake of the whole city. That's more than I've ever done, you should find solace in your good deeds.' Charly put his arm around her and she leaned her wet head on his soaked shoulder.

'You want to know how I cope?' He asked, savouring the feeling of her nodding on him.

'I listen to music, I sit and let my mind wander and it usually wonders back to my mind. I think about the good I've done and filter through the bad. You can't overcome unless you confront. If it gets really bad, like today, I sit up here and totally lose myself in thoughts of everything good about my life.' He explained.

She looked up at him, an unreadable expression on her drenched face.

'The overlying theme of that thought stream is usually one thing.' He continued.

'What's that?' She asked him

'You. You've been my reason for sticking around since I met you.' He smiled down at her.

She was about to answer when she instead gave into the urge to shiver.

'Come on, you're cold, we're going back inside, it's movie night isn't it?' He stood and offered her a hand to help her up.

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'Finally, you're late. Where have you been, swimming in the bay?' Beast Boy yelled as the door opened.

'Swimming in my thoughts, BB. Also, I'm never late, I arrive exactly when I'm supposed to.' Charly replied, focusing his power so his and Terra's clothes began to steam themselves dry.

'Well, we're watching 'Attack of the Attack Attackers'!' The green teen shouted jubilantly.

'Sounds thrilling.' Charly replied, deadpan.

He was about to sit next to Terra on the couch when the alarm blared, again.

'Does that thing ever give it a rest?' Cyborg shouted.

'Trouble on the bridge.' Robin said quickly.

'Why does it have to be on a night like this?' Beast Boy asked.

'Thunder must be having the time of his life.' Raven noted as a loud rumbling rocked the tower.

'There is something about this situation that reminds me of a previous one.' Starfire explained.

'Déjà vu, Star and yeah, there is something familiar.' Robin shot a look at Charly, who nodded.

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The bridge was dark to the point where only Cyborg could see with his night-vision eye, Robin having to rely on the night-vision implants in his mask **(Yes they are there)** and Charly relying on his energy sensing abilities to not walk into things. Terra, Beast Boy and Raven were practically blinded.

'I don't like this, it's a little too calm for an alarm isn't it?' Charly glanced around, sweeping his consciousness across the bridge.

'Wait, do you see that?' He asked when he spotted a large metallic object.

Before anyone had a chance to answer, enormous floodlights flashed into being, fastened as they were to the top of a large mechanical humanoid.

'A giant robot, that's not predictable.' Raven managed to get out before the robot lunged, surprisingly fast for something of its size.

Dodging the blow and firing a blast of black energy in return, Raven moved back into formation with the team.

'Titans, go!' Robin commanded, charging forwards.

'I thought you'd never ask.' Charly jumped onto a small disk of fire and let it carry him upwards to head height of the robot, allowing his power to flow freely.

His hair stood on end, gaining an ethereal glow as his eyes became pools of vivid red light. Lifting his arms out to his sides, a large flame appeared in each, crackling with demonic energy.

'Let's see if you can withstand some heat.' He said, grinning maliciously.

Firing off both hands at the robot caused him to be pushed back a few feet due to the power; the attacks however merely glanced off and didn't leave a mark.

'Damn! Fire-retardant robots are the worst kind.' He hopped from his flame platform, his main power now totally useless. He watched as a flurry of large rocks struck the mechanical monster, causing it to fall back a few steps.

Cyborg, riding on the back of a green T-rex, fired off a blast from his cannon straight into the face of the giant mech, followed closely by a salvo of star bolts from the alien overhead. This had the effect of disabling one of the robot's arms, which hissed and buzzed as wiring was severed.

'Robin, double-team!' Charly shouted, whipping out the sai he had bought the previous week and running to join the staff-wielding teen.

'Where did you get those?' Robin asked, looking at the impressive weapons.

'Not important, are we going or what?' Charly glanced at the end of the staff.

'Fine, you think you can hit it's eye?' Robin dodged an attack by back-flipping away.

'Give me a lift and I'll hit it just fine.' Charly shouted over the loud explosion that Cyborg had just caused.

'Go!' Robin flicked out the end of his staff and braced as Charly jumped.

Landing both feet on the staff he began another jump, this time with Robin levering him up for greater height.

Using his temporal powers, Charly increased the amount of time it would take for physics to affect him, thus allowing him time for some impressive but ultimately pointless aerobatics before landing on the chest of the robot.

'Take this!' He shouted, lighting his sai and plunging both into the robot's one large, red, eye-like sensor.

He landed next to Terra, spunthe daggersin another pointlessly flamboyant display and stored them in his belt just as the robot fell to the ground.

'I think that went well, don't you?' He asked her, grinning.

'Now all we need to know is who the robot is controlled by.' Robin ruined the mood slightly.

'Well, that didn't take very long, we've still got enough time to watch 'Attack of the Attack Attackers'.' Beast Boy noticed, glancing at his digital watch which he does wear.

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'So it was Control Freak's robot?' Charly asked Robin as they entered the common room.

'Yeah, he built it from plans on the internet.' Robin suppressed a laugh at that.

'Right, kinda rubbish, but bless him for trying.' Charly moved to the couch where he spotted Terra, who had fallen asleep leaning on Starfire, who didn't seem to mind.

'She looks so cute when she's sleeping.' He commented.

'Certainly.' Starfire agreed, strangely.

'I'll take her to her room.' He lifted her from the couch and carried her from the room bridal style, noticing an odd sensation from Star's direction which he dismissed.

Robin shot a glance at the alien who he had tried to date, smiled and moved to find his newspaper.

Charly placed Terra onto the bed gently and brushed a strand of hair from her face. He sat on the edge of the bed and lost track of time until she stirred.

'Charly?' She asked groggily.

'Yeah, it's me.' He whispered, not really wanting to disturb her even though she was already awake.

'I'm really tired.' She managed to say before her eyes fell closed again.

'I'll leave you to get some rest. Sweet dreams, my love.' He pulled a sheet over her and left the room.

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Starfire crept down the halls to the common room, trying to stay quiet.

'_I can't keep this up.'_ She thought to herself. **(A.N. She thinks in Tamaranean, thus allowing for correct syntax and grammar.)**

She moved over to the fridge and grabbed the milk, she had been finding it harder to sleep recently because of 'confusing' emotions.

'Up at 1:30 again, Star? It's become as much your ritual as it is mine.' Charly was sat on the counter where Starfire hadn't noticed him.

'Oh, Charly, I was merely…getting the warmed milk to aid my slumber.' She tried.

He smiled a little but didn't take up on the obvious half-truth.

'You know, you're the only person in this tower I feel I've actually talked to. About deep things.' Charly was leading to something.

'You have not spoken in depth to Terra? Or even your sister, Raven?' Starfire placed the mug of milk into the microwave and tapped in a series of numbers.

'Talk to Raven about my emotions? No, even if she was any good at expressing hers it's not the sort of thing I'd do with my sister. Terra, well with her I don't want to worry her with trivialities.' Charly explained hurriedly, trying to get to his main point.

'I see.' Was all she answered with.

'What about you? I've noticed some fluctuations recently, wanna talk about it?' He asked her, prompting.

'I have been…confused lately, by my feelings for another.' Starfire told him, getting her milk from the microwave and hiding her face behind it. She opened up to him easier than to others and was hoping she could spring this one quickly and get it over with.

'Oh, anyone I know?' Charly asked with a grin.

'Yes, you know them. Quite well in fact.' She turned a little to avoid looking into his eyes.

'Well we only have five mutual friends, so it's Robin isn't it?' Charly tried.

'No, we have tried the dating before but it did not work out, we are merely friends.' Starfire explained.

'Cyborg.' Charly attempted.

'Not that I do not like him, I do not think he would make a very good boyfriend.' She parried.

'Beast Boy?' Charly's eyes were widening with anticipation.

'No, he is not, I believe the term is, 'my type'.' Starfire put down her mug and looked down in anticipation of the next question.

'Right, so you have 'confusing feelings' for either me or a girl.' Charly said, hoping beyond hope that it wasn't him. He didn't think he could handle the temptation.

'It is not you'. Starfire said with a sigh.

'Raven?' Charly tried not to imagine a 'situation' as he asked.

Starfire remained silent for a long time, as though considering whether to tell him or not.

'Starfire I don't mind if you have a crush on a girl, it's perfectly natural. Hell, I quite liked Cyborg for a while when I first joined.' He told her, adding a little joke to lighten the mood.

'I have been told it is very unnatural.' Starfire explained.

'Well if it wasn't natural, would it happen at all?' Charly asked with a smile.

'It would not, your logic is undeniable. No, it is not Raven.' Starfire told him with a small smile that seemed to say 'I'm sorry.'

'I understand.' He said with no emotion.

'I do not wish for this to spoil our friendship, so perhaps it would be better if you forgot this and…' Starfire began to ramble.

'Star! It's ok, you're allowed to have a crush on Terra, it's nothing I can change and I wouldn't dream of interfering with your feelings.' Charly stopped her before she got out of hand, she was already welling up at the thought of losing his friendship.

'You do not mind that I 'like' your girlfriend? That is most strange.' Starfire wiped her eyes.

'I suppose so, but honestly it's not really my business if you do, I can't stop you.' He smiled as he contemplated his next joke. 'Even if you acted on it physically I couldn't stop you, you'd break me in two.' He flashed a cheeky wink at her and she smiled.

'I will not do anything, she does not know and if she did I believe she would be disgusted and wish to end our friendship.' Starfire's grin vanished at the thought.

'You don't know her that well, do you?' Charly grinned even more.

'I do not understand.' Starfire looked at his face enquiringly.

'I kinda have a thing about people not looking me in the eyes. I find it unnerving.' He told her, looking down.

'I am sorry, but I cannot converse properly without looking at you. Also, is that not a sign of the disorder known as 'Autism'?' She asked.

'Not in my case, I just don't like it. Anyway, you don't know her as well as I do, she's very open minded. To the point of actually being bisexual. You know what that means I assume.' He told her.

'Yes, I understand. So she has had the crush on another female?' She leaned in to ask.

'Sure, you aren't the only one, Star. I think you might be in luck too, when we lived in the cave she wouldn't shut up about you. 'You know who's cute? Starfire from the Titans.' Jeez.' He delivered the last line as a joke but Starfire's eyes lit up.

'Oh crap, I shouldn't have told you that.' Charly grinned slightly then his eyes glazed over and he stared into the middle distance for a while.

'Charly? Charly? Friend, what ails you?' Starfire shook his shoulder to wake him.

'Huh? Oh, I was just thinking about Terra…and…you. Together. Don't hit me!' He yelled, leaping over the counter and cowering on the floor.

Starfire merely grinned and held out a hand to help him up. By up I meant off the floor and over the counter without even trying.

'So you think if she knew she would not be repulsed?' Starfire asked.

'Quite the opposite and quite frankly I couldn't keep up with the competition.' Charly said.

They sat for a long time not speaking, Charly trying not to drift into a yuri themed daydream. After a long time he decided he needed to clarify.

'So, are you a lesbian then, Star?' He asked her.

'I do not think so, I still feel attraction to males. I am perhaps bisexual as you said before.' She confided in him. 'Please do not tell anyone, I do not think they would be as understanding as you.' She pleaded.

'Sure, anything.' Charly replied.

'Dude! You have the potential to be the luckiest guy in the tower right here! Do something, suggest it!' Lust screamed in his head.

'_No!'_ Charly mentally replied.

'At least make a joke about it.' Happy told him.

'You know, this has the potential to make me the happiest boy in the tower, if not the whole city.' He said out loud.

This did earn him a slap, though it was not a hard one, nor was it vicious as Star was actually smiling as she delivered it.

'What? You can't say it wouldn't be great. A bit of this,' He tapped his chest, 'and a bit of her at the same time!' He jerked his thumb in the direction of Terra's room.

'You are being a pervert, Charly.' Starfire told him.

'I know.' He replied in an apologetic tone.

'I shall return to my room, have a pleasant morning.' Starfire set off back to her room.

'Starfire likes Terra, wake up you idiot, what happens if Terra like Starfire and dumps you?' Paranoid shouted from his mind.

'It's just a crush, she'll get over it.' He answered out loud.

'She may not, you should tell Terra, let her know. She can decide for herself then.' Wisdom was right, of course.

'I'll do just that.' He answered. 'In the morning.'

**So, Starfire 'likes' Terra.**

**This could get a bit weird for old Charly, will his girlfriend dump him for some sweet alien girl lovin'?**

**Next chapter will answer that question, but it may not answer it in the way you expect. (also, There's no lemon in this story, it's T rated, so don't get excited.)**

**Don't ask me why I decided to put a bit of yuri in here. I don't know.**

**Reamis, out.**


	13. Acceptance

**Yes, Chapter 12 was confusing.**

**This chapter will continue in that vein, in the hopes that I can straighten this out and move on.**

**So here we go.**

'This is going to be incredibly awkward, you know that?' Wisdom asked from inside Charly's mind.

'_I know, I know, I'm still trying to shut Paranoid up.'_ He mentally replied.

'That's it, mate, you've come a cropper and she's hitting the dusty trail with another bird.' Paranoid shouted.

'_When have I ever spoken like that?'_ Charly thought, just to himself, really.

'She's leaving.' Paranoid said, rather annoyed.

'_She's not!'_ Charly fought.

The door in front of him slid open, revealing a common room that was just that. Nothing out of the ordinary was happening, at least to ignorant eyes.

Charly scanned over the room, Robin was reading a newspaper, Cyborg was fighting Beast Boy over who cooked what, Raven was nowhere to be seen and Terra and Starfire were sat on the couch.

Charly observed as Starfire's eyes kept flickering towards his girlfriend and he fought the urge to shout something there and then.

'Starfire,' He said instead, 'Can I talk to you? Privately.' He added.

'Certainly.' She floated towards the door and into a nearby storage room where Charly had gone.

'What is it that you wish to converse about with myself?' She asked.

'That was needlessly elaborate.' Charly almost snarled.

'I do not understand your calling me in here.' She stated, crossing her arms.

'I was wondering if, well…' He spluttered for a few seconds then finally came out and said it, 'Are you gonna tell Terra or am I?' He asked.

'I see.' Starfire said simply. 'Last night you expressed your unconcerned-ness about this matter.'

'Well that was last night and frankly since then it's been bugging me… that's not the right word, terrifying me with possible outcomes.' Charly fell onto a box of something.

'I don't know, I'd just like you to say something and get it over with. It's the uncertainty that gets to me.' He finished rather lamely.

'I understand your plight and will do my best to ease your concerns. However, should Terra respond in kind I do not wish for our friendship to become tarnished.' Starfire said in a manner that could be construed as comforting.

'It won't, if… that happens I'll give myself some time and move on.' He said, finally.

'Glorious.' Starfire said in a deadpan way, which made Charly smile a little.

She left him alone in the store room and returned to the common room.

'At least I hope I'll be able to work it out.' He said quietly.

For a long time he simply sat, until the door finally opened again. Standing in the hall was Starfire, who had dragged Terra from the room.

'What the hell are you doing?' He shouted, uncharacteristically.

'I merely wish to speak to Terra in the private.' Starfire said, a pleading look in her eyes.

'Oh, I'll be on the roof.' Charly got up and stalked off, casting the occasional glance backwards.

'Terra, what I wished to speak with you about was…'

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'Cheer up, she's not gonna just dump you like that.' Happy said, though his voice belied every facet of his nature.

'That's it, start the water works now and get it over with.' Sadness told him.

'_I am not going to cry.'_ He thought with venom.

He stared over the bay, chuckling darkly at the metaphor of the darkening bay representing his mood and general circumstance.

For a long time he stared at nothing, hoping beyond hope that Terra would see sense.

After a few minutes the roof door opened and Terra stepped out, closely followed by Starfire, who Charly suspected was there for more than just moral support.

'_As though I could ever harm her. Starfire on the other hand…'_ Charly stopped this horrible thought before it even finished.

'Charly, can we talk?' Terra moved closer to him.

'It's why we have vocal chords.' He said, monotonously.

'Please, don't be like that. Do you know why I'm here or do I need to say it?' She asked.

'You always said you wanted to experience everything life had to offer,' Charly strained to keep from yelling, 'I suppose now you'll have that chance.' He turned.

'Terra,' He said, drawing on some grim humour, 'I think we should 'take a break'.' With that he stormed off towards the roof door, not stopping to open it, merely blasting his way through from a distance.

'Charly!' Terra shouted after him and was about to set off running, but was held back by Starfire, who was shaking her head sadly.

'I didn't think he'd take it this hard,' Terra began to sob slightly, 'I thought he'd be happy for us!'

'I am sure he is, he will simply…need some time.' Starfire comforted the blonde girl.

Charly slammed his way through his own door and grabbed his jacket before blowing the remains of the door into oblivion and storming down the corridor.

He passed Raven on his way to the main door.

'What's wrong?' She asked him, closing her book and staring as he stomped past.

'Oh nothing, everything's perfectly fine.' He said, keeping himself under remarkable control, though the last three words were accented by small flares of flame in his eyes when he spoke them.

'I don't even need to be empathic to know it isn't.' Raven pointed to his bedroom door, which lay in a melted pile in the middle of the hall.

'I'm having a rough day... week... life.' He said simply, and continued on his way.

For a while Raven considered going after him.

'Don't bother following me, either, sister or no I hold no regard for status at this point.' He told her, as though reading her mind.

'Was that a threat?' She asked, squaring up to him.

'It was a promise.' The word promise was emphasised by the boy's hair become a raging inferno for a split second.

He turned and, before she could say another word, was gone.

'Temporal powers.' Raven sighed, continuing on her way.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'What are you doing?' Wisdom asked, rhetorically.

'I need time to think.' Charly told him out loud.

'The top of the bridge support pillar is no place to think.' His annoyingly clever aspect replied.

'I can't use the roof, _they_ are still up there.' He said, loading 'they' with vitriol.

'Honestly, 'they'? You still love her, do you not?' Wisdom asked.

'More than life itself.'

'And you care for Starfire too?' Wisdom continued.

'Like a sister. Well, one that's not dead or half-demon.' Charly admitted.

'Then you should be happy for them! Get the hell back there and sort this out!' Wisdom shouted, violently.

'That's the last time I let you listen to death metal.' Charly joked to himself. He then realized how pathetic it was to be joking to your own mind.

'I'll go back, but I can't face them just yet. I'll let the whole sitch calm down then make my re-entrance.' He decided, laying down and staring at the sky.

'Sitch?' Knowledge wasn't pleased by the abbreviation.

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'Why are we walking in the park?' Robin asked anyone who would listen.

'Because Starfire asked us to.' Cyborg told him.

'I thought she wanted to be alone with Terra.'

'Maybe she just wants us all to have a good time.'

'Perhaps,' Raven spoke up, 'She's worried that Charly might come back in a less than friendly fashion and in force we could stand a chance.'

'He would…never do that. He is our friend, it is preposterous.' Starfire covered, trying to turn but being restrained by her hand held within Terra's

'You didn't see him on his way out.' Raven said quietly.

'You know, I'm happy for you girls and all, but I think Charly's feelingsneed to be considered here, too.' Beast Boy was actually thinking logically.

'That actually makes sense.' Robin noted.

'Dude, you'd make sense too if you were trying to stay out of a time-and-fire-controlling demon's bad books.' He almost chuckled a little.

'Wow! You're the Titans!' A small child who had strayed from whatever game he was playing accosted the group.

'Wait, where's the other one, Spitfire? He's my favourite.' The child spun around, searching for the 7th teen.

'He's not here, he went out a while ago.' Robin wasn't too fond of small children, having just been told he was second best to someone else was getting to him as well.

'Why?' The child asked, innocently.

'He was a little angry with us.' Terra motioned to herself and Starfire.

'Why are you holding hands?' The child asked.

'Because we're good friends.' Terra covered before Starfire could shout something compromising.

'Is he angry because he wants to be good friends with you too?' The child had almost hit the nail on the head.

'Something like that.'

They heard a pounding of feet as someone ran towards them from behind, turning in time to see Charly come trotting up.

'Where have you been?' Raven asked him instantly.

'Top of the bridge.' He replied, pointing in the general direction. He at last noticed the small child, who was staring wide-eyed at his idol.

'Who's the munchkin?' He asked.

'My name is Billy and you're Spitfire! My big brother says that you're weak but I told him that you could beat him up. Could you beat him up?' The child spouted.

Charly chuckled a little.

'Only if he committed a crime. Or I didn't like him.' He chuckled once more, darkly. 'Or he stole my girlfriend.' He replied, his chuckle leading to a low laugh.

He turned to the Titans, particularly Terra and Starfire, eyes glowing as his laugh got louder and more evil sounding.

Starfire was about to attack him when he stopped abruptly.

'You should have seen the look on your face right then, priceless.' He said, the child staring in awe.

'Seriously though, I'm happy for you guys, I just needed time to see it that's all.' He turned back to the kid.

'So, how old's your brother?' He asked.

'He 17 and he says that you're younger so he could beat you up.' The kid said, disbelief colouring his every word.

'He's only a year older, a few months really. Tell you what, give him this.' He ripped a strip of paper from his ever present notebook and scribbled something on it.

'Consider it an autograph and a message to your brother.'

''Any time, any place. Spitfire.' the child struggled to read.

'Off you go now.' He ruffled Billy's hair and sent him on his way.

'So, you really don't mind?' Terra asked when everyone had gotten over his kind treatment of the kid.

'Of course I mind, why would I not mind? My girlfriend left me for an alien girl who I couldn't possibly compete with. I'm not best pleased, but I'm happy if you're happy.' He railed.

'I am.' She said, looking into Starfire's eyes.

'Dude, you turned a girl lesbian.' Beast Boy laughed.

Charly rounded on him, the 'family death glare' on his face and eyes aflame.

'Too soon.' He said in a sweet tone.

'Ok.' The changeling agreed quietly.

They moved to a quiet spot and made it considerably less quiet with a game of football.

Charly not being native and thus not knowing any of the rules, simply watched alongside his sister, whose abject hatred for the game was rivalled by none.

For a long time he watched until Terra and Starfire broke from the game and sat together under a nearby tree. He sighed as he felt their contentment.

'That's a weight off both our shoulders.' Raven said, startling Charly.

'Huh?' He asked dumbly.

'I felt you let go just then, it feels nice not to have your worries weighing me down. I suppose you're over it now?' She asked him.

'I'll never be over it, Rae, all I can do is accept that I lost to the better man…uh…woman. Why not just shut out my emotions?' He asked, confused.

'Granted I can normally, Charles,but you're family and you don't talk about your feelings, how else am I supposed to find out?' She gave a very small smile.

'So I am family now then?' He grinned.

'Sure, I'm getting used to the idea of having a _little_ brother.' She said, evilly.

'Oh, no.'

**So that's 13, Charly gave up his love so she could be happy.**

**I'm so sentimental I could make myself cry.**

**Ah, well, review if you liked it, review if you didn't I don't care anymore.**

**Reamis, out.**


	14. Pyrokinetic

**Chapter…erm…14..?**

**Special shout-out to Princess Aelita Lyoko who, whilst presumably not the only person to notice it, was the only person to tell me they noticed that Charly gave up his love but gained a sister.**

**Not as in a new one, but inasmuch as Raven finally decided it wouldn't be a bad thing… BAH! Read through the chapters if you want to know.**

**  
Anyway, on with the chapters.**

'I'm not in the most welcoming of moods, it has to be said.' Charly shouted to his doorway, or more particularly the spiky-haired teen behind it, whilst staring at his newest notebook which lay smouldering on the floor.

'Why is that?' Robin's muffled voice asked from the hallway.

'I couldn't find anything that rhymed with 'torture' and now I need to buy another notebook.' He shouted to his leader, waving a hand at the book to put it out.

'Perhaps you need a new hobby; writing seems to make you angry. Also, could you open this door please?' The voice came again.

'Why can't you?'

'To make sure no-one disturbs you, you heat the control panel so it burns skin, even through gloves.' Robin sounded slightly annoyed.

'Sorry.' Charly waved a hand at the door and heard Robin poke at the controls apprehensively. Finally the door opened and the leader of the Titans strolled casually in, though Charly could see that his hand was quite badly burned.

'You want me to take a look at that?' He asked.

'No, I'm fine.' Robin replied stiffly.

'You clearly aren't, but ok.' Charly grinned.

'Ah, that's better, it stopped hurtin… Wait, what did you do?' Robin leapt forwards to accuse him.

'Nothing.' Charly said, innocently.

'Temporal powers.' Robin growled, 'And now I've forgotten what it was I wanted to say.'

'Something about the gym?' Charly prompted.

'Oh, yeah. Some of the weights in the gym have been destroyed, you know anything about it?' Robin eyed him with more accusation.

'Only that I can't lift them and therefore have no contact with them.' Charly said, scooping the burnt paper from his floor.

'They were melted.' Robin continued.

'Yeah, by 'have no contact with them' I meant 'melted them out of spite.'' Charly finished lamely.

Robin simply stared at him for a while, sighed and left.

'That was easy.' Charly said to himself.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

'Cyborg, could that be a little louder? I can still hear myself think.' Raven said from her end of the couch to Cyborg, who was playing a violent and loud videogame.

'Sorry, Rae.' He grinned at her.

'Don't call me that.' She tried, he wasn't listening, totally engrossed in killing whatever was supposed to be attacking.

Charly strolled in, fluorescent yellow button shirt flapping in his wake.

'Do you ever do those up? I mean, the buttons are there for a reason.' Raven shouted to him.

'No, I don't.' He shouted back with a smile. 'Hey Cyborg, could that be a little louder? I can still hear myself think.'

'You know, you guys really are alike. Hey,' Cyborg dropped his remote, 'Anyone seen BB?' He asked.

'It's 9:30 and it's dark, where could he have gone if he's not here?' Charly said, not looking up from the sandwich he was making.

'He doesn't go into the city much, maybe he's outside.' Raven suggested.

'Oh, ok.' Cyborg, assured of his friend's continuing existence, returned to his game.

Charly glanced at the window, noticing the rain for the first time.

'I'll go and check.' He said, dropping his bread knife.

'Fine, sure, whatever.' Cyborg answered, eyes glue to the TV.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Beast Boy skipped another stone across the surface of the dark water, each ripple it made swallowed in a multitude of others caused by the rain.

'I thought you hated rain.' Charly said from behind him.

'Huh, oh, yeah. What is it, trouble?' He the green teen asked.

'No, just wondering where you were.' Charly sat on a boulder next to him.

'I was just thinking.' Beast Boy said.

'You don't have to tell me what about, if you don't want to.' Charly threw a stone into the endless darkness and listened for the splash.

'It's just, there's someone I…kinda like, but she doesn't even seem to know I exist.' BB said, after some hesitation.

'Ah, that old chestnut, I had the same problem back home, before the incident.' Charly said.

'Really? I thought you'd be fighting the chicks off.' Beast Boy complemented.

'Nope, I needed a change of scene for that, for some reason British guys get noticed considerably more in America. So, who is she? Do I know her?' Charly asked politely.

'You know her, but I'm not sure I want to say.' The green boy answered.

'Sure, not my business anyway.'

'How about you, dude, you haven't been yourself recently. Still not over Terra?' Beast Boy asked, still staring deep into the bay.

'Don't think it's going to happen, mate. It's not that, it's just…I was thinking of getting in some more travel, y'know?' Charly said quickly.

'_Nice one, get it out there fast and let him deal with it in his own time.'_ Wisdom said inside his head.

'Wait, you mean you want to leave? Dude!' Beast Boy didn't seem happy about this plan.

'Yes and no, it's just…the thing keeping me here before has 'moved up and on', shall we say?'

'What was that?' Beast Boy asked him, turning and shaking his head free of excess water.

'You wouldn't be interested.' Charly shook his own head, hair whipping his face and landing back to cover his eyes.

'I think you've developed an inferiority complex.' Beast Boy said knowledgably.

'Where did that come from?' Charly was shocked.

'I was reading about it when there was nothing on TV, it seems to me that you don't think you're worthy of being here with us. Or something.' He explained.

'I…well…hmm…' Charly couldn't think of an answer.

'Dude, you are totally worthy of being a Titan, you can control time and fire! Your sister is a founding member.' Beast Boy continued.

'Thanks, BB. You coming in?' Charly stood.

'Nah, just need some more time to think.' He skipped another rock into the bay.

'Right, if you want to talk I'll be…in my room or on the roof.' Charly set off walking back to the tower.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Charly sat on his bed unconsciously hugging his pillow to his chest, ambient music sliding through his HiFi and the lights off.

'_So, are we going?'_ Impatient asked.

'_Where, home?'_ Charly asked mentally.

'_Good a place as any.'_ Knowledge told him.

'_I wanna look for another pyrokinetic; I haven't met one in a good long time.'_ Charly thought, out of the blue.

'_You can do that from here, with your powers'_ Wisdom said.

'I know that and I was about to before your interruption.' Charly said out loud.

'I apologise if I interrupted anything.' Starfire's voice came from the other side of his door, which slid open, revealing Starfire standing in the hall.

'Not you Star, the voices in my head.' Charly flashed her a smile, 'How goes the relationship?' He asked suddenly.

'It is most joyous.' Starfire said, in a rather monotonous voice which made Charly chuckle.

'What are you doing?' She pointed to his odd position on the bed.

'Just…considering.' He replied.

'Anything important?' She took a step into his room, apprehensively until he waved her in and lit a few candles with his power.

'Not really, just some plans that I might not go through with.' He placed his pillow back onto the head of the bed and reached for the stereo.

'Please, you do not have to turn off your depressing yet confusingly uplifting music.' Star said.

'Oh, ok. I was about to meditate actually, I felt an odd discharge of power in the city today, wanted to look for the source.' He told her.

'Do you wish me to leave?' She asked politely.

'No, stay if you like, you may get a bit bored though, I wont be doing anything.' He gestured to the bed where he was already sitting cross-legged.

'I shall join you in meditating, if you do not mind?' She still seemed to be afraid he would turn on her any minute.

'Star, you need to stop acting like anything you do is going to set me off. I'm not going to attack you because of what happened. It was probably my fault, she must have been bored with me.' Charly rambled.

'_There's that inferiority complex again.'_ Knowledge shouted to him.

They began to meditate together, Starfire using Raven's mantra and Charly simply not thinking. A trick he perfected during his time in Tibet a few months into his travels.

After a while of scanning and occasional interference not only from Starfire, who's un-suppressible energy caused a constant but pleasant distraction, but from Raven as well, who seemed to be on the same mission as him, he stumbled across a powerful energy surge.

'_What the hell?'_ Rude said out loud.

He scanned a bit deeper, sensing his sister had found this energy as well, and noted the power was similar to his but not as controlled, in fact it seemed to be building into another large surge.

'Raven,' Charly had his soul-self shout, 'I think we should leave. Now!' He waited and felt an affirmative response.

His eyes shot open just as the energy spiked, causing a blackout in the tower.

'Starfire! Are you ok?' He shouted suddenly.

'Yes, I am fine, why do you sound so worried? It is merely an outing of blackness.' She replied.

'Yeah… I just thought…I heard a thump and wondered if you'd fallen off the bed.' He finished hurriedly, gasping.

'Whatever's going on in here I don't like the sound of it, so I'm gonna count to three before I turn the flashlight on.' Robin's voice from the door, he sounded like he was laughing.

'Crap, where are my pants?' Charly shouted in jest, causing the not-so-naïve Starfire to giggle a little.

'What happened?' Robin asked, serious again.

'A rather large energy surge somewhere in the city.' Raven had followed him through the darkened halls.

'I can't tell if it's natural, though.' Cyborg was there as well.

'It was, kinda. Wouldn't it be better to discuss this in ops rather than my bedroom?' Charly suggested.

'Of course.' Robin set off walking.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

'So, can we determine what caused it?' Robin was asking when Charly finally arrived after a trip to the bathroom.

'It was a pyro.' He said, assertively.

'A what?' Robin turned to him.

'Another Pyrotechnic, Raven, you must have sensed it too?' He asked his sister.

'I sensed power, not what kind, did you get anything else?' She asked.

'It's a kid, about my age, so natural source at least. Towards the old theatre.' Charly said, trying to remember, the trouble with his astral scans and travels were that, like dreams, they faded in his memory quickly.

'Male or female?' Robin asked.

'No idea, sorry. What I do know is that it's newly awakened power, no control, so we need to get there quickly.' Charly said hurriedly.

'Lets go!' Robin ran towards the garage.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

'I don't see anything and the scanners aren't getting anything.' Cyborg told the rest of the team upon getting out of the car.

A loud, fiery explosion alerted them to another presence.

'Over there.' Robin was about to run towards the source when a kid came stumbling out of a back alley.

She was about as tall as Starfire, a redhead and, as Charly had said, about 16.

'Who are you?' Robin shouted.

'What? Me? Don't come any closer!' The kid shouted, clutching her head.

'What's wrong with her?' Raven asked.

'Her brain is using too much power at once, it's basically giving her the mother of all hangovers without the side effect of killing her liver.' Charly stated, joking but not smiling. 'Eventually it'll knock her out and her power will either dissipate, leaving her in a coma like state or it'll spike and kill her. Possibly us along with her, too.'

'Hey, kid, you need to chill, we're here to help!' Beast Boy tried, his answer was an enormous wall of flame surrounding the terrified girl.

'Ok, maybe she has _some_ control.' Charly noted.

He stepped towards the protective wall and stepped through slowly, so as not to cause alarm.

'How did you do that?' The girl asked him, still cowering.

'I'm a pyrokinetic, like you. You really need to calm down or you're going to end up hurting yourself. Or someone else.' Charly had moved to stand right in front of her and knelt down to be on the same level.

'Spitfire, resident Pyrokinetic and Temporal Manipulator of the Teen Titans, at your service.' He presented a hand to help her up.

'You can't help me.' The only slightly less terrified girl told him. 'There's too much energy built up, I need to get somewhere safe.' She was becoming frantic again.

'How about I take some of that off your hands? You have to help me, mind, I can't just take it.' He offered.

'Ok.' The girl seemed ready to try anything.

'Ok, I know it's frightening but I need you to just let go, stop withholding your power. You won't destroy anything, I'll be absorbing. Ok? Go.' Charly closed his eyes and began to pull mentally on the excess energy around and in the girl.

Eventually she did as he asked and let her energy flow. She gasped as the strange sensation took hold then closed her eyes and began to channel directly towards the boy.

The flame wall dropped, allowing the Titans a view of the unfolding events and after five minutes or so the girl gasped again as she opened her eyes.

'Wow, that was...intense.' Was all she said.

Charly fell backwards and began to gulp for breath.

'What did you do?' Terra asked the girl, accusingly.

'Nothing, I swear, he said he could handle it!' She took a step back until she realised that the boy who helped her was laughing a little.

'That…was…awesome.' He gasped out. 'It's like having heartburn and taking heroin at the same time. Awful but fantastic.' He tried to sit up but simply fell backwards again. 'I'm gonna need some help.' He giggled.

He was lifted by who he assumed was Robin, all the while staring at the girl he had just saved.

'My name is Sam.' She said, before he blacked out.

**Charly does a lot of blacking out at the end of chapters I've noticed.**

**Maybe he's just weak like that. Then again during the first three seasons of the show any Raven-centric episode ended with her unconscious. Family trait?**

**Reamis, out.**


	15. Control

**Chapter 15. I think.**

**I need reviews!**

**Yes, P.A.L., Sam does seem interesting, I was considering for a while whether to make her male and see which way I could take that but decided it'd be nice to have some kind of dynamic in the whole Charly/Terra thing. **

**Onwards:**

Sunlight streamed over the windowsill and dripped silently to the floor, creeping across the room and onto the bed like some kind of inverse ninja.

Charly's eyes protested their opening for a while, until he finally remembered why he was 'asleep' in the first place.

'Ow, why does that always happen?' He groaned to himself, trying to sit up, after a few attempts he managed and noticed he was in the infirmary. Again.

'I ran the tests again, Robin, nothing is wrong with him.' Cyborg's voice floated in from outside the door.

'Are you sure?' Robin sounded quite worried.

'In fact he should be awake by now.' Cyborg continued, rustling some papers.

'But he's not!' Robin shouted.

'Ugh…Yes. Yes I am.' Charly shouted to the door, noting how much it hurt to shout.

Robins head appeared round the door to spot Charly sitting on the edge of the bed, head in hands

'Are you feeling ok?' He asked.

'Yeah, feels like I've got a hangover that's going to get worse before it gets better though.' Charly groaned to him.

By this time Cyborg had made it clear to all that Charly was awake and they all arrived, including Sam who stood at the back of the room looking timid.

'Is there any pain?' Raven asked.

'Only when I speak. Or breathe, or swallow. I hurts to move, too. Hurts to have my eyes open, hurts to have them closed, vis-à-vis it hurts to be alive.' He complained.

'Stop whining.' Raven replied.

'Will do.' Charly gave her a salute. 'So that's Sam? Finally see you not looking like you're about to run away from me. Hello.' He said politely.

'Hey.' She meekly mumbled, looking down and blushing a little.

'You should never have done that!' Raven started in on him now she was certain he was okay. 'How could you be so stupid? You had no idea what effect it would have on you or her! I'm so angry I could kill you!' She raged.

'Sorry, mum.' Charly said sarcastically. 'Nice to know you worried about me though. Thanks.' He ended softly.

'You've been out for three days, during that time we've got more acquainted with Sam here.' Robin told him, helping him stand.

'Oh?' Charly intoned.

'Yes, seems her powers just 'activated' recently, she spent a while teaching herself to control them, evidently it works quite well, but not perfectly.' He was talking about her like she wasn't there.

'So…let me guess, you want her to stick around until she can control them properly and we'll see where it goes from there?' Charly asked, standing away from any support to show he could.

'You have to teach her.' Robin continued.

'Me? Why?'

'Because you're the only pyrokinetic we know.' He explained, logically.

'Right, well we need somewhere where we can practice without fear of, well…killing anyone, basically.' He was stalling for time to think.

'Already flame-proofed the room in the gym no-one ever uses.' Cyborg said proudly.

'Right.' Charly finished. 'Can I have some food before we start?'

---------------------------------------------------------

'So you want me to teach her how to keep her powers in check?' Charly asked, through a mouthful of sandwich.

'Yes, that's about the shape of it.' Robin explained to him the logistics for a third time.

'When do I start?' Charly asked, again.

'As soon as possible.' Was Robins authoritative reply.

'Right now then. Sam, you don't have any objections do you?' Charly asked the girl.

'No.' She said quietly, again looking at her shoes.

'Off we go then.' Charly set off walking towards the newly-refurbished training room.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Entering the room, Charly grabbed a couple of chairs and sat on his own, Sam followed suit.

'I'm sorry.' She told him quietly.

'For what? Knocking me out? Happens all the time, don't worry about it.' He said in a bright, cheerful manner.

'Still, I'm really sorry.' Sam insisted.

'Apology accepted, now, I know you have enough control to make and maintain a wall, but can you do this?' He held out his hand and wrote the word 'fire' on his palm.

'Wow, how'd you do that?' Sam was amazed.

'It's easy, just let the energy flow to your hand and visualise the word.' He told her with a smile.

She attempted to do as he instructed and for a while a small flame danced in her palm. Eventually it either burned out of flared into a large fireball.

'I can't get this!' She cried in frustration.

'You can. I've isolated your problem, you have to know that you are the master of the fire, that you _can_ make it do what you want it to. Don't think it, know it.' Charly urged.

'That's a little egotistical, isn't it?' Sam looked at him with a mixture of amusement and…something he couldn't put his finger on.

'That's the idea! You need attitude if you want fire to listen to you!' He said excitedly, pushing stray strands of hair out of his face and grinning broadly.

For an hour or so Charly taught Sam a few little tricks, her control improved no end until she could successfully maintain a small fire version of herself for about five minutes. She didn't seem to be as powerful as Charly in terms of how much energy she could take on without damaging herself, but her capacity was higher than any pyrokinetic he had known.

'You really did well today. You were on fire!' He shouted as they came back into the common room together.

'Well, you were blazing through the stuff so fast I didn't think I'd ever understand, but then you cooled off.' Sam answered.

'Yeah, I was burning to show you a few more advanced things, but they can wait until you can control a little better.' Charly gave her a smile.

'My control is ok!' Sam shouted in mock outrage.

'Not for making platforms you can stand on. Not yet anyway.' Charly murmured.

'Still, that session was smoking!' Sam got excited again.

'Yeah, next time I'll turn up the heat a bit and we'll work on attacks and what not.' Charly grinned again.

'Enough fire puns, they're making me want to rip your face off.' Raven said from the couch.

'We were making fire puns? I didn't even notice.' Charly was quite confused.

'Thank you Charly.' Sam leaned over and kissed him on the cheek then skipped from the room humming.

'What's her problem?' Beast Boy asked rather impolitely.

'We did some channelling and she absorbed but didn't expel, she'll be hyperactive for a while.' Charly smiled and rubbed his cheek where she had kissed it.

He glanced at the other Titans, all of which were in the room, and noticed Terra was staring at him, there was something odd in her eyes but he dismissed it.

'So, new girlfriend?' Cyborg nudged him, rather hard and he fell over.

'What? No! She's…a student.' Charly said, from the floor.

'Sure.' Cyborg grinned and sidled off somewhere.

'Really.' Charly said, getting up again and setting off to look for Sam, a hyperactive pyrokinetic was never a good thing.

-------------------------------------------------------------

He found her sitting on the roof and staring at the sunset across the bay, the purple light creating wonderful highlights in her long red hair.

'Hey, penny for your thoughts?' Charly asked, sitting down next to her.

'I was just thinking about what I wanted to do before…well, before this.' She made a small flame in her hand and snuffed it out.

'What was that?' Charly asked her, noting the feelings that she was giving off.

'I wanted to travel. See the world, go to everywhere and do everything.' She sighed.

'You still can. That's what I did before I came here, I stuck around because of Terra and then never left.' He had let slip his little secret to a total stranger and felt stupid for doing so.

'You stayed in Jump for Terra? The one who's dating Starfire?' Sam looked at him strangely, a hint of mockery in her eyes.

'Don't.' He said simply, before she had a chance to say anything. 'It still hurts.'

'I'm sorry.' Sam said in a quiet voice, turning back to the sunset.

It seems to be a trait of pyrokinetics, Charly thought, that their mood could change almost immediately and while they can be quick to pick up on points they can mock and ridicule and be hot-headed, they apologise just as quickly and in times of need they can be some of the most helpful people in the world.

'_You really can't be making judgements on the few you have met'_ Wisdom told him.

'Have you calmed down yet?' Charly asked her finally.

'I think so, I'm really tired.' She replied and yawned as though to prove it.

'That'll be the energy wearing off, come on, I'll walk you back inside. Where exactly have they put you?' Charly asked her, supporting her with his arm.

'I'm in with Starfire.' Sam said in a voice that might as well have been asleep.

'Right, I'll drop you off then.' They walked together, Charly's arm around her waist 'to support her'.

'Thank you, again.' She kissed his cheek again and went into the room.

He wandered into the common room to find Beast Boy still playing a videogame, Raven reading and Robin staring out of a window.

'She likes you.' Raven said, as he walked past her.

'What? No she doesn't.' Charly blushed a little.

'That's crazy, she just met him,' Beast Boy stopped playing for a second to formulate an analogy. 'That's as crazy as saying…that dragons actually exist!' BB looked pleased with his ridiculous suggestion.

'Dragons do exist.' Charly said nonchalantly.

'What?' Beast Boy was stunned into silence.

'Don't you remember Malchior?' Raven asked, rather angrily.

'Well there's that,' Charly said, 'but I met one, well, two, on my travels. A guy called Josh and a girl called Kayley. Cool kids.'

'Josh and Kayley aren't really dragon-like names are they?' Raven asked.

'Those were their names in human form, I'm not sure if they had dragon names. Anyway, that's not important.' He waved away the conversation and grabbed himself a soda from the fridge.

'Anyway, if she does feel something it's probably just stemming from me helping her.' Charly cracked the can open and took a swig. 'She'll calm down soon and settle in, you'll see.'

**(Typical, dramatic end-of-chapter fanfare thing)**

**You may be confused about the last part, Utterly Pointless (or more precisely his sister) let me mention his/her characters from Draco Occidentalis Magnus Give it a look. ALL OF YOU!**

**Reamis, out.**


	16. Kisses

**Chapter 16.**

**Princess Aelita Lyoko**** has again reviewed; you are my favourite person on the site.**

**Anyway, onwards:**

The sky was midnight blue; the occasional clouds that marred its untouched surface were black.

The moon, covered partially by the black clouds, glowed in an ethereal way as did the pin-prick points of the millions of stars.

It was raining. The water ran from every surface and eventually to the bay below. No-one was outside.

No-one but Charly and one other.

He lay on the roof of the tower staring at a particular star, one he had noticed during his travels, it was in the early stages of red-shift and sparkled with myriad colours. It calmed him somewhat to know that even something that far removed from himself and the problems of the earth could be as transient.

For the first time in a long time he felt content, nothing was terribly wrong with his life at that point. Unfortunately, as we know, good things end faster than one could hope.

He bolted upright as he felt a jolt of emotion from inside the tower. He searched around and found the source, or rather sources. Both Starfire and Terra were in the midst of a painfully confusing mixture of anger, sadness and confusion.

'What the hell is the matter with them?' Curiosity said within his mind.

'I'll go check.' He said out loud.

'You'll go check what?' Said Sam, who he had forgotten was on the roof with him, he was showing her a way to relax and not worry if she had discharges of power. That method was to lie in the rain.

'Oh, I felt something in the tower and was going to check on it.' He told her.

'Go, I'm enjoying myself up here.' She said with her eyes closed.

'I'll come back.' He said, leaping up.

He ran through the corridors searching for each of the girls, he noticed they were each in their respective rooms, and the emotions they were exuding were less than pleasant.

He reached Terra's door first.

'Terra!' He slammed on the door. 'I could feel you from the roof, what's wrong?' He shouted.

'Nothing.' Came a muffled reply.

'Bull, open the door.' He demanded. For some reason she did.

He rushed in and saw her sitting on her bed, face in hands.

'What's the matter?' He asked quietly, closing the door.

'I told you, nothing!' She shouted at him.

'Come on, Terra, you wouldn't have opened the door if it was nothing.' He told her, moving to sit next to her.

'Fine, I had a fight with Star.' She said with a sob.

'Come here.' He put his arm around her, 'Was it anything serious?' He asked her.

'I don't really want to talk about it.' She didn't look up. 'In fact, I just want to be alone.'

'If you're sure.' Charly stood from the bed.

'Yes, I am.' Was his dismissal.

'I'll go check on Star.' He said as the door slid closed and locked.

He made his way to Starfire's room.

'Star?' He knocked on the door less urgently this time, he didn't want her to think there was trouble.

'No one is here, please leave.' Came her voice.

'I suppose that was a recorded message, then?' He smirked.

'I do not wish to speak to you. Terra still has 'the feelings' for you.' She said through the door.

'That's nonsense, are you not going to open the door?' He asked in a final tone.

'No.' Was the simple reply.

'I'll just sit here then.' He leaned his back against the door and slid down to the floor.

'So, why did you and Terra fight?' He asked the cold metal over his shoulder.

'The very reason I have already told you.' Starfire's voice wavered with every word.

'Star, even if that's true it doesn't mean anything. I still love her but I'm not going to do anything about it.' He comforted.

'I am merely worried.' Starfire told him, she seemed to be getting closer to the door.

He sat for a while until her door finally opened and he fell into her room.

'I was wondering how long it would take.' He said with a smile, standing up.

She pulled him into a bone-crushing hug immediately.

'I did not mean for my anger to be focused on you.' She said into his shoulder.

'Star…I…can't…breathe.' He gasped out.

'Oh, sorry.' She replied sheepishly, letting go.

'So, what are you going to do?' Charly asked, getting vaguely worried for his safety all of a sudden.

'I shall speak to Terra, I need to find out if this means anything.' She told him.

'That would be best, also you should go now, while she's still upset and before the anger sets in.' He told her and watched as she made her way up the corridor.

He made his way back to the roof, all the while thinking how strange all this was.

A year ago if someone had told him he would spend an evening in Titans Tower, trying to get his two friends, both female, to mend their relationship despite his love for one of them he would have laughed in their face and told them where to get off.

He re-entered, or rather re-exited onto the roof, where Sam was still laid, enjoying the sensation of having the freedom to let her powers run riot without consequence.

'If you're done I think we can wrap up, but do this every time you feel a little over-powered, a shower works if it's not raining, less relaxing though, you can't lay down.' He told her, a little preoccupied.

'Ok, teach.' She smiled.

'Don't call me that, it make me feel old.' Charly grabbed the notebook he had left on the roof and set off after her.

She stopped at the door and he caught up.

'What is it?' He asked, thinking she had noticed something.

'I wanted to give you this.' She kissed him on the lips and it lasted a while longer than he had expected.

He enjoyed the sensation until she broke off, her hair on fire and her face flushed. She ran into the Tower and set off for her room (which they had set up a while ago)

'That was weird.' He said out loud. 'This has been an incredibly weird day.'

First, he'd woken up in his bed, which was rare, then Punk Rocket had showed up again, this time he was trying his hand at bass, he took about three seconds to beat.

Now all of this.

'You did enjoy it though.' Happy pointed out.

'Shut it.' He said loudly and proceed to the common room.

------------------------------------------------

'Dude, where is the remote, Cyborg?' Beast Boy shouted at the mechanical man.

'I told you, I don't know, why d'you think I'm watching Oprah?' Cyborg snarled, infuriated by the pretentious woman.

'Hey, guys.' Charly wondered in, still looking confused from earlier.

'Hey, do you know where the remote is?' Beast Boy asked him.

'Under the sofa.' He replied, searching through the fridge for a beverage.

'So, I heard Sam kissed you.' Beast Boy said from the floor, causing a mist of soda to erupt from Charly's mouth.

'How could you know about that already?' He was amazed.

'Word travels fast I guess.' Came his reply.

'I'm going to see how Terra and Star are doing.' Charly slammed his soda down and strolled out towards Terra's room.

'Hey.' He shouted as he reached the door. 'How are you doing?'

'We talked about it. I think we'll be ok.' Terra's voice came.

'Can I come in?' He asked.

'Sure.' The door slid open and he sidled in, looking slightly apprehensive.

'Something is wrong, friend?' Starfire asked him.

'No, not really. It's nothing, it's not like I kissed Sam or anything.' He spurted, immediately covering his mouth with his hand.

'What?' Terra almost screamed.

'What? Can you blame me?' Charly defended himself.

Starfire merely looked on, watching as everything she held dear was rent apart.

She gasped as Terra launched herself at Charly and pulled him into a passionate kiss.

'Her or me?' Terra asked, finally breaking off but not letting go of her grip around his shoulders.

'But Terra...' Charly and Starfire said together.

She looked back at the red-haired alien girl and realised what she had said.

'Star, I…' She began.

'Please leave.' She told them both, fighting back tears.

'Star, I swear this wasn't my intention.' Charly attempted.

'I said leave.' Came a forceful reply.

Outside the door Charly turned to his ex.

'What the hell do you think you are doing?' He yelled.

'I…didn't think.' Terra replied quietly.

'Damn right! How could you do that to her? She's done nothing but care for you and then you turn around and do that.' He was literally smoking at this point.

'But, she was right…about you and I. About how I feel for you.' Terra attempted to slip her arms around him, he stepped backwards with a glare.

'No way. This was your decision, Terra, we're over.' He said, his voice now full of quiet accusation.

'I believe your exact words were 'take a break'.' Terra tried, placing her hands on her hips.

'She's so darn cute when she's like that.' Lust shouted in his head.

'_Now is not the time, Lust.'_ He warned.

'Kiss her.' Said a voice he didn't recognise, which is strange because everyone in his head has his voice.

'_Who's that?'_ He asked.

'No-one, just do it.' The voice came again.

Terra stood and watched as the boy had a conversation in his head. Watching his expression change with no outside prompting was almost amusing.

'I can't deal with this right now.' He said suddenly and began to stalk off back to the rain drenched roof.

Before Terra could speak Starfire's door slid open again and a tear-streaked face appeared.

'Terra,' Starfire's voice wavered, 'I do not think it would be wise to continue the 'seeing each other.'' She closed the door again and locked Terra out, despite it being her room.

----------------------------------------------

Charly knelt on the roof, letting the rain wash the blood from the floor and his knuckles where they had made repeated contact.

'Idiot idiot idiot idiot!' He chanted as he pounded the concrete and metal.

'Come on, this wasn't your fault.' Wisdom tried to comfort him.

'Of course it was my fault. I've done nothing but caused problems since I arrived. I should have just left when Robin kicked me out.' He thought for a moment.

'Or gone with plan B.' He finished.

'I swear if you bring that up again I'm never going to help you again.' Wisdom yelled at him.

'Your death would bring nothing but sadness to the people here.'

He started to punch the floor again until he heard a door open. Starfire was stood on the roof, seemingly oblivious to the rain. There was a glint in her eye.

'Oh, crap!' Everyone inside Charly's mind screamed at once.

He stood and she began to walk towards him, causing him to back up until he reached the edge of the roof.

He stared at the drop and remembered what happened last time. He fell to his knees and covered the back of his neck.

'Don't kill me! I swear I didn't plan this!' He yelled at the advancing alien.

She didn't speak but kept advancing until she was right in front of his cowering form.

She grabbed his arms from the back of his neck and lifted him to his feet, staring into his eyes.

'Seriously, you wouldn't just kill me without a fair fight would you?' He pleaded, 'Because I can't fight with my hands like this.' He tried to move them and savoured the intense pain as he forgot everything else for a split second.

For a while Starfire just held him there, a little off the floor right at the edge of the tower.

Then she kissed him.

'What the hell is going on?' Everyone in Charly's head screamed in unison, except Lust who had fainted.

She broke away and placed him back on the floor, still staring at him and he at her.

'I merely wished to see what the fuss was about.' She said and strolled back to the door.

Not wanting to miss out on a complement his ego made him shout.

'Well?' He called after her.

'I believe I understand, though vaguely.' She replied over her shoulder and proceeded back into the tower.

Charly stared at the door for a very long time while his brain tried to work through his day.

'We're going to need more power.' Knowledge said to Wisdom.

**So, yeah.**

**How awkward was that bit outside Terra's room? Dude.**

**Can't really think of a bold bit for the end so I'll just say:**

**REVIEW.**

**That is all.**

**Reamis, out.**


	17. Flare

**Chapter 17.**

**Wow, that's a lot.**

**I disclaim ownership of anything in this story except Charly, Sam and the story itself.**

To help him clear his head Beast Boy had taken Charly into the city to check it out properly.

They strolled down the street, Beast Boy wearing a pair of those holograph rings from the time Cyborg had infiltrated the Hive.

'I can't believe I've been here as long as I have and still haven't explored the city properly.' Charly told the currently tanned, blonde teenager next to him.

'Well now you have a great tour guide.' The cocky changeling answered him.

'Hey look, that's Raven's favourite café.' Beast Boy suddenly pointed out.

'How do you know that?' Charly asked him, glancing at him expectantly.

'I just…do.' He defended. 'She must have mentioned it.'

'Sure.' Charly nudged him and walked towards it.

Entering what can only be described as an over-ground basement Charly was confronted by the lack of windows, the only light coming from a few dimmed electrical bulbs and about a hundred candles.

'Wow, dark.' Beast Boy noted.

'Helpful.' Charly answered him, setting off for the counter.

When he had ordered and received his green tea and BB his water they grabbed a couple of seats at an empty table and began to glance around.

'Yep, definitely my sister's kind of place.' Charly nodded and downed his tea in one gulp.

------------------------------------

A few hours and some aching legs later and the two boys reappeared at the tower, Beast Boy sporting a fetching ribbon.

'What's that, mini-man?' Cyborg asked.

'BB convinced me to enter a look-alike contest, we came third.' Charly growled, obviously peeved.

'Who did you enter as?' Robin asked, putting down his paper.

'It was a Titans look-alike contest, so we entered as ourselves.' Beast Boy answered, almost ecstatic at losing at being himself.

'How did you lose?' Cyborg asked in disbelief.

'They said his makeup was shoddy,' Charly gestured to the green boy, 'And my accent was 'unbelievable'. Idiots.' He flopped onto the couch.

'So who won?' Robin asked but was answered by the door opening again to reveal Starfire and Sam sporting blue ribbons.

'I wonder why they won.' Raven said sarcastically, following them in.

'Because we're pretty.' Sam said, loudly.

'I ain't arguing.' Lust said inside Charly's head.

'_You really need to be quiet.'_ Charly thought at him.

'So, what are we doing this evening then?' Charly asked.

His answer came in the form of the alarm, the flashing red light casting an eerie glow on everything.

'Stupid fate-tempting.' He muttered.

'It's Jinx, Mammoth and Gizmo, again.' Robin yelled from the monitor.

'We should really do something about those three, I mean Jinx is obviously the ring-leader, we need a way to, I don't know, make her stop being a criminal.' Charly theorised as they made their way to the car.

'Why don't you kiss her?' Raven smirked at him.

'I'm going to slap you in public.' He shot back, though grinning.

'Can we keep the fighting for the criminals, please?' Robin yelled over his shoulder.

'Whatever you say, chief.' Charly shouted to him.

Stopping the car door Robin turned and waited for Charly, when he arrived a split second later Robin confronted him.

'Forget the car, Spitfire, We need someone there now.' He told him, grabbing his helmet.

'On it.' Charly/Spitfire began to run towards the door then vanished instantly, the only sign of him leaving being a loud roaring sound.

'We should make him race Kid Flash, or even just Flash.' Beast Boy noted from inside the car.

'Yeah, they're really going to let Flash off his duties in the Watchtower to come race some kid.' Cyborg told him.

'There's an extra space, you think she's ready to come with us?' Robin noticed before hopping on his bike.

'Sure, Charly's been teaching her for weeks now.' Cyborg punched up Sam's communicator. 'Wanna come with?' He asked.

----------------------------------------

Meanwhile:

A ring of flame surrounded the three villains, Gizmo was attempting to put it out with some contraptions but his efforts were in vain.

'When will you three learn?' Spitfire asked them, standing on an elevated platform of flame, engulfed and smiling slightly maliciously.

'Never, ya snot-munching creep.' Gizmo yelled.

'I swear if you talk like that again I'm going to irreparably burn your vocal chords.' Spitfire threatened in a tone so commanding Gizmo actually shut up.

'Why are you just standing there?' Jinx yelled to their captor.

'I'm waiting, either for you to give up or for the others to arrive, I'm not going to waste my energy fighting three of you.' He laughed as he dodged a pink hex which flew towards him in slow motion.

'You're really getting the hang of this temporal thing now.' Knowledge told him.

'_Please don't bother me when I'm working.'_ He thought.

'Ah, here they are.' He said suddenly.

The T-car and R-cycle screeched up and the Titans sprang into action as Spitfire dropped his wall.

Noticing a blast of flame he hadn't caused he glanced to his left and spotted Sam in what can only be described as a tasteful catsuit (if such a thing existed) firing off blasts at the battling wrong-doers.

He watched in amazement as she created small balls of flame that circled around her body, occasionally flying off at the villains and being instantly replaced, it seemed to be acting as some kind of shield for whatever Gizmo was trying to shoot her with.

'I like your style, kid.' Spitfire jumped off his platform and landed next to her, firing a heavy-duty blast at the short enemy, melting his backpack. 'You've got flair.' He signalled to Cyborg to restrain Gizmo and noticed the other two had been defeated also.

'Hmm, Flare? I like it, can I use it?' Sam asked him.

He simply nodded because he was preoccupied.

Terra had been hit straight on with one of Jinx's hexes and was unconscious. Spitfire ran over and dropped to his knees, feeling for a pulse.

He turned to the restrained sorceress, eyes ablaze, and grabbed her collar.

'What did you do?' He demanded, growling in an almost demonic tone.

'Nothing, it'll wear off in an hour or two.' Jinx insisted, looking genuinely frightened.

'You had better be right, for your own sake.' He dropped her again and moved back to Terra's prone form, lifting her and creating a new platform to take him back to the tower.

'You guys deal with them, I'll take her back.' He said, his voice still angry but otherwise unreadable.

He floated past them and away, for a long time Sam simply stared after him, an odd expression on her face.

'Come on, Sam, we've got to take these guys to jail.' Cyborg shouted to her.

'Yeah. Yeah, ok. Oh, it's Flare on missions, by the way.'

-------------------------------------------

Charly laid Terra on one of the beds in the medical bay and pulled up a chair.

'I hate this place.' He said to himself. 'I really wish I had healing powers.'

He didn't know how long he sat there but it couldn't have been less than three hours, the other Titans had returned and checked in.

'Is someone there?' A weak voice came from the bed.

'Yes, Terra, I'm here.' Charly took her hand to reassure her.

'How long have I been out?' She asked.

'About three hours.' He noted, glancing at his watch. 'How do you feel?'

'Crumby.' Was the answer he got.

'Let's get you to your room and out of here.' Charly began to help her from the bed.

'Can you stand?' He asked.

'Yes.' She answered him, but he still supported her.

After she was in her own room he went back to the common room, inside which Beast Boy was about to beat Charly's high-score on 'Ultra Pain and Death Bringer 6'.

Robin was unhappy that Beast Boy had got hold of a game that shouldn't have been sold to someone his age.

Raven was reading and Cyborg was cooking. Starfire was nowhere to be seen. As was Sam.

'So, how is she?' Robin asked when he noticed the stealthy entrance of the fiery Titan.

'She still a little messed-up, but she prefers being in her own room, so I took her there.' Charly told him.

'Did you kiss her better?' Raven asked him with a hint of mockery in her voice.

'I'm going to burn off your hair while you sleep.' He shouted at her, lifting a flame covered hand.

'If you want to actually meet our father go ahead.' She replied, lifting a hand covered in dark energy.

'You win, this time.' Charly gave in. Truthfully he was morbidly curious what exactly Trigon would say to him were they to speak.

Sam wandered in at this point, looking quite happy.

'Where have you been?' Charly asked her.

'I was hanging with Star.' Sam shot back in a tone that was slightly acid, which Charly thought was uncalled for.

'Ok, no need to bite my head off. If anyone wants me I'm going to sit in the rain.' Charly strolled out.

'_Thank the fates for winter'_ He thought as he stepped onto the roof into the hammering rain.

'Dudes, we need to watch a movie!' Beast Boy shouted, back in the common room.

'We've got 'Mr. Skinner Goes Down.' I really don't want to know what that's about. Or 'The Aliens That Eat Skin.'' Robin held up the two films and every immediately picked skin-eating aliens over a dubious alternative.

'Shall we get Charly?' Cyborg asked the group.

'I'll go.' Beast Boy leapt up, ready to drag the reclusive boy down to the couch if he had to.

-------------------------------------

'Hey, BB.' Charly threw up a roof of flame, he knew Beast Boy didn't like to get wet.

'We're watching a movie and you're watching it with us.' The green teen demanded.

'Alright, might take my mind off stuff.' The British boy stood up.

'What kind of stuff?' Beast Boy was suddenly interested

'You know, all this confusion with Sam…and Terra.' He sat back down, or rather collapsed under the weight of his problems.

'Well, my advice is to think about which one you love most.' BB sat next to him.

'Thing is, I don't really love Sam. I can't explain but it's like I was only interested in her because Terra left me.' Charly attempted to explain without the proper terminology.

'That's called being on the rebound, you girl.' Beast Boy teased him.

'Americans, you guys have a name for everything.' Charly mocked back.

'So, you love Terra, so do something about it.' Sage advice from the tower's most fun-loving occupant.

'It can't be that simple, can it? On a seemingly unrelated note, have you ever heard Drops Of Jupiter by Train?' Charly asked, randomly.

'Yeah, why?' Beast Boy answered with another question.

'Recently it's become the soundtrack to my thoughts about her.' Charly sighed heavily.

'Come on, we've got a movie to watch.' He stood and set off for the door.

'Fantastic!' Beast Boy ran in front of him.

Charly began to sing the aforementioned song quietly as he walked, growing in volume slowly until he could be heard throughout the tower.

'His voice is quite good.' Raven noted from the couch.

In her fitful sleep Terra smiled as the music penetrated her dreams.

**I love that song. Lots.**

**I've had a while to write this because I've been off school with some kind of virus (give me sympathy)**

**Anyway, thanks for reading.**

**Review me please, don't leave it to others, do it yourself.**

**Reamis, out.**


	18. Hangman

**Chapter 18, I'm fighting through, it's ok.**

**Thank you P.A.L. for the hypothetical medical supplies.  
**

**Started on my birthday, I got bored in the evening you know? No party because of ill.**

**Holy crap, Things Change is a wonderful episode. Not a great finale, but a wonderful episode.**

**Just to explain, this story is probably described as AU as it will have nothing to do with recent events of the show. (Except perhaps a little cameo mention.)**

**Story:**

'Got any threes?' Beast Boy asked the table of assembled teens.

'BB, we're playing poker.' Charly pointed out, gesturing to the table and the shifty looking kids guarding their cards.

'I believe we are actually losing at poker to our guest, rather than playing.' Starfire told everyone.

Kid Flash was over for a routine check and had brought the newly reformed Jinx with him **(Did you guys see that? OMG, that episode was awesome. Sorry, back to dignity and the story now.)**

She sat holding her cards nonchalantly, a huge pile of cash to her left and a grin of satisfaction plastered on her face.

'This is far more fun than stealing the money.' She couldn't help herself from saying.

'J, we have to go.' Kid Flash glanced at his watch and stood, not forgetting to grab his modest pile of notes.

'Sure, so long guys.' She addressed the Titans with a small wave.

'Hey, Spitfire, race ya to the door?' Kid Flash challenged the British boy.

'Go.' Charly shouted and vanished, reappearing leaned against the doorframe of the room.

'What took you?' He asked the yellow suited boy with an enormous grin.

'Next time I'll beat you.' Came the answer.

'Only if you discover how to teleport.' Charly shook the offered hand and went back to his seat after offering a small bow to Jinx as the two left.

'I told you we'd have to stop her being a criminal. Someone did it for us, but I knew it would happen because I'm psychic.' Charly flicked some invisible dirt from his shirt.

'You've been getting cockier by the day.' Cyborg pointed out.

'Because I'm ace.' Charly retorted.

The evening had erupted into a thunderstorm that was shaking the tower with every peel of thunder, every flash of lightning making a momentary daytime in the late evening.

Sam watched the clouds through the window as Charly wandered around telling anyone who would listen how great he was.

'I tell you I'm so fantastic that light shines from my…' he was saying.

CRASH. A moment of confusion as every electronic device in the tower shut down or switched to auxiliary power sources.

'DARN!' Came a shout from the sofa, where Cyborg's game had been interrupted.

'We need some light.' Robin was heard to say from somewhere.

A couple of fireballs emanated from the two pyrokinetics and moved to strategically thought up places around the room.

Beast Boy had panicked and leapt into Raven's arms, even she hadn't seemed to notice and promptly dropped him onto the floor in what looked to be a very painful way.

'Great, powerless.' Robin intoned. Everyone in the tower bit their tongue on their chosen 'like you' remark and shuffled around a little.

'So, what do we do now? We can't go out.' Charly seemed to have calmed down.

'I know what we could do.' Beast Boy's mischievous grin gave a lot away.

'No! We are not doing that again, not after last time.' Cyborg backed away, hands outstretched.

'Truth or dare!' Beast Boy almost hissed in glee.

'Ooh, can I suggest a variation?' Sam asked, happily. Upon gaining a nod she explained:

'Right, someone asks a question and the other person either has to answer truthfully or do a dare, rather than choosing before-hand.' She finished, grinning around.

'Ok fine.' Everyone seemed to say at once, except both Raven and Charly who remained stood when everyone moved to the sofa.

'No.' They said together, then glanced at the other strangely.

'Aw, why?' Beast Boy practically whined.

'Not my idea of a good time.' Raven answered.

'I was going to sit outside, actually.' Charly answered at the same time, causing another exchange of odd glances.

'Oh, I get it. They're both scared.' Robin taunted in a style quite unlike him.

'Fine, I'll play your stupid game.' Raven gave in, leaving Charly alone in his decision.

For a long time the Titans merely stared at Charly, who got more and more uncomfortable.

'Fine!' He shouted suddenly, jumping onto the sofa. 'I swear I'm only doing this because I like you guys.' He added.

'Right, I'll ask first.' Beast Boy leapt up. 'Starfire, do you own anything that isn't purple?' He asked.

'Certainly, I own many garments that are blue, some that are turquoise and perhaps one or two pink items.' She answered with a smile.

'Right, that was eventful.' Charly intoned, sarcasm dripping from his words like it was raining cynicism.

'Fine, your turn.' Beast Boy shot to him.

'Great, so BB, you're into Raven huh?' He asked with an evil grin.

'I…Yes…No…I…But…' Beast Boy floundered for a long time, increasing the volume of the laughing from all the Titans except those in question.

'I'll have to take your first answer I'm afraid.' Charly continued, grin growing in malice.

'Ooh, my turn!' Sam shouted. 'Terra, can you make a decision without going back on it?' She asked in an acid tone.

Terra merely glared at her until Sam broke into a forced smile and professed that it was a joke, she then turned to Charly.

'What do you think about?' She asked.

'Huh?' He countered stupidly.

'When you're staring off into the distance with _that_ look on your face, what are you thinking about?' She clarified.

'If you must know, I'm usually thinking something along the lines of 'How could all this wonderful stuff happen to me?' or thinking about Ter…erm…how great my friends are.' He covered, but the slip didn't go unnoticed.

'Ok, Cyborg, what are you most afraid of?' Robin asked.

'My systems becoming obsolete.' he answered briefly, staring out of the window.

'Erm… Ok.' Raven looked at the half-metal man for a while then finally took her turn.

'Charly, same question.' She uttered.

'Nuclear war, spiders and clowns, what does it matter?' He answered rather aggressively.

'Whoa! Struck a chord, did I? Really, what scares you?' Raven tried again.

Charly sighed and stood, walking to the window and leaning there for a second.

'I'm scared of the night.' He began, 'That's the time when everything else that scares me comes to the forefront, I guess you could say I'm scared of rejection.' He glanced around the group, who had maintained a respectful silence as he poured his heart to them.

'Most of all though? I'm scared of myself. Scared of ruining the lives of others and my own.' He gained a sudden interest in his shoes. 'I'm sorry, I've got some stuff to think about.' He left the room in a hurry.

'Dude.' Beast Boy said quietly. 'Oh well, Raven do you…uh…think I'm cute?' He asked subtly, well, not really.

-----------------------------------------

The door to Charly's room slid closed and he moved to the centre of the room.

'Come on you idiot!' He scolded himself, 'Just tell her how you feel, you had no trouble before.'

'Before you had Cyborg tell her you were delirious.' Wisdom pointed out.

'Shut up.' He told himself.

For a while he just sat on the edge of the bed, thinking hard about his predicament.

'What would the old me do?' He sighed suddenly.

'Well for one I wouldn't ask me.' A familiar yet unfamiliar voice told him.

The voice caused a sort of nostalgia in Charly, like going back to a place you loved in childhood, but not as enjoyable.

'How's that?' He asked.

'I'm practically the 'old' you as you just said. My name in here is Rage but I'm very similar to how you were before the 'incident'.' Rage informed him.

'I was told to be careful of you; why are you helping me now?' Charly asked.

'Oh, that's merely aside-effect caused by your helpful personality. I came here to taunt you actually.' Rage said with a chuckled.

'Oh good, can't you just leave me alone?' Charly slumped back into his bed.

'No. You're pathetic you know that? Why can't you just come out and tell her how you still feel? It's making me sick.' Rage continued. Charly didn't answer this time, wishing with every fibre of his being that Rage would shut up.

'I asked Timid what his problem was. After he stopped blubbing and pleading for mercy he told me you, or rather 'we', are frightened of rejection and of ruining both Terra's and you own life. Fates, how did I get you as a host?' Rage grumbled to himself a little.

'Blame the old man.' Charly said grimly. 'I didn't ask for any of this.' He finished.

'Bull_shit_ my boy, you practically prayed for this. Remember your early writings? 'Journal, I would give anything just to be accepted somewhere. Wouldn't it be great if the Titans took me in? I heard that a similar thing that happens to me happens to that girl Raven when she gets really angry. I should check it out.' You are possibly the most pathetic person I've ever met and I've met everyone you have.' Rage spat his cruel mockery.

Charly considered this for a second as an odd presence moved through his mind almost unnoticed.

Eventually he noticed that something was amiss, as did Rage.

'Who's that?' Shouted the red haired and shirted Charly inside the true Charly's mind.

'Stand down, weakling, the Gem approaches.' Raven felt a little ill as she let her own Rage say that.

'Shit! Rae! What are you doing in there…here…What?' Charly demanded out loud.

'I think you should come in here too.' Raven told him.

He glanced at the mirror on the bedside table and grabbed it, taking a breath as the fiery hand lurched from the undisturbed glass.

'I hate this ride.' Charly managed to say before he was pulled in.

Raven stood by (Charly's) Rage who was staring in awe at the true offspring of Trigon.

'Stop that.' She told him just as the real Charly jogged up.

'So, why are you in my head?' He asked her, waving Rage away, who grumbled but left anyway.

'When you stormed out you seemed more messed up than I've ever seen you, truth be told, I was worried.' She began, causing Charly's expression to soften slightly.

'Then I heard what Rage was saying and though I hate admitting it I agree.' She told him, causing his expression to shift entirely and become unreadable.

'You have to tell Terra before she meets someone else and mistakes them for 'the one' however odd that concept seems to us both.' She explained, taking a seat on a nearby couch.

'It is a weird idea isn't it? I don't want to just go running back to her. It's not about saving face either, before you say.' He turned to her.

'No, it's because you feel she can do better.' Raven revealed, gaining a rather odd look from Charly.

'I can get in here without the mirror, how hard could it be for me to read your mind?' She finished.

'I see. I was wondering what the old me would do, the me that I was before the incident.' He confided.

'That Charly is dead, you are who you are and who you are now is Charly or Spitfire of the Titans. Charly who is in love with Terra.' Raven had a point hidden in her rhetoric.

'I think I have a lot to answer for, huh?' Charly realised he'd been acting like a total jackass.

'You could say that. Now get back to the tower.' She ordered good-naturedly.

'Ok. Raven?' He called as she began to leave.

'Yeah?' She asked back.

'Thank you.' He told her solemnly.

----------------------------------

The game had fallen through, with the departure of two participants it really didn't seem worth it anymore.

Unfortunately the power was still off so there was very little to do in the tower but play hangman on a whiteboard Beast Boy had found.

'Is it 'animal'?' Terra asked enthusiastically.

'Yes, but there are no letters up yet, how did you know?' Beast Boy was in awe.

'Just a lucky guess.' She said, nonchalantly.

'Hey.' Charly re-entered the room with an apologetic look on his face.

'Hey, you wanna take a turn?' Robin gestured to the board.

'Ok, multiple words ok?' Charly had already put his lines on the board as he asked.

'Just go. I?' Raven asked, joining in despite her better judgement.

Charly drew the letter as the first word (well, what other one latter words are there except 'A'?)

'A?' Cyborg attempted.

The last letter of the forth and last word appeared.

'E?' Starfire tried.

The last letter of the second word and the second letter of the last word were revealed, the board now looked similar to this:

I/---e/---/-e--a

'O?' Robin asked.

I/-o-e/-o-/-e--a

'U!' Beast Boy shouted excitedly.

I/-o-e/-ou/-e--a

Terra stared at the board for a long time, an expression dawning on her face. She gasped as she realised.

'By George, I think she's got it.' Charly almost whispered, his voice soft and not a little attractive.

The rest of the Titans were obviously waiting for her to tell them what it said but she was not about to do that so they continued guessing.

'Erm…T?' Cyborg tried again.

Charly grinned and wrote it up.

I/-o-e/-ou/Te--a

'Y and V.' Raven stated, it wasn't a question.

I/-ove/you/Te--a

'L and R' Robin had finally caught on.

I/love/you/Terra

'I'd like to take this chance to apologise for the complete idiot I've been recently.' Charly smiled his second most charming smile. The first is reserved for getting out of trouble or getting what he wanted.

Terra seemed to be welling up slightly, Sam had left the room a while ago. Charly could feel she was not in a good mood.

'Terra,' He addressed her directly finally, 'Can you forgive me? More importantly, could you ever take me back?' He asked, fighting the urge to bolt at light speed.

She stood and walked slowly over to him, staring into his eyes the whole time. She lost herself in the multi-faceted red, the tones hiding a wealth of wisdom and knowledge. A sparkle still shone there, despite all he had been put through in his life he still held that joyful optimism he exuded.

Charly stared back, his heart racing as he felt himself falling without moving into the deep blue of her eyes.

'You always were a sucker for pretty eyes.' Lust managed to say before resuming the fight to remain in control of himself.

Charly, for once, repeated this fact in the first person. It was this that triggered Terra's passionate kiss and loud cheers from the surrounding Titans, even, if not mostly coming from, Starfire.

For the first time in around four years Charly allowed a tear to roll down his cheek. A tear of happiness.

His life was good again.

**Chapter 18.**

**Thank you for reading thus far, I must say the last part of this chapter flowed far more than most do, I think it may be because I have some emotional attachment to it for some reason. **

**I think I'm falling in love with my characters.**

**Anyway, Reamis, out.**


	19. Interview

**Chapter 19**

**A turn of events it seems…**

**No more will be said on the subject.**

**Story:**

'Charly, are you in there? I've looked everywhere else.' Terra's voice floated through the door to Charly's room in a most welcome manner.

'Funny how my room has become the last place people look for me in the morning.' Charly replied in his morning baritone.

'Please stop talking; your voice is making me want to break the door down.' Terra told him in a helplessly seductive tone.

'Oh, is it? Well, a situation like this would precipitate the need for me to not say anything extensive then wouldn't it?' He lowered his voice very slightly and really forced his accent.

He grinned as he heard her shiver and sigh outside the door.

'So, are you coming in or not?' He asked, hopping from the sitting position on his bed and hiding his most secret notepad, the one marked 'Dreams'.

The door slid open as he approached it and Terra practically pounced on him with such force he stumbled back and fell onto the bed, still kissing her.

'Charly!' Robin's voice was approaching the room, the door of which was still wide open. 'There's someone here saying you promised an interview.' He stepped in front of the door and took in the sight of the two oblivious Titans.

'Aw, guys, come on, if you're gonna do this at least close the door!' He yelled, causing them to be jerked back to reality.

Terra leapt from the bed all blushes and giggles, attempted to articulate an apology on her escape from the room. Charly on the other hand simply took his time, stretching leisurely and grabbing a shirt and his jeans to replace the sweatpants he was wearing for some reason.

Robin looked him up and down and gave a small nod.

'Charly, whilst it may seem weird to mention it and I'm slightly jealous, you may want to cover or lose that before your interview.' He pointed out, giving a nod to the lower half of the other boy's body.

Charly looked down and immediately covered himself with his jeans, grinning stupidly.

'Heh, sorry Rob, I haven't kissed her like that in a while you see.' He tried to explain.

'Yeah, sure.' Robin tried to shake the image from his mind as he walked away. He eventually resorted to hitting himself on the head.

---------------------------------

'Why exactly are you doing this again?' Raven asked her brother as he tried to make his hair stop acting stupid.

'Well, I heard that when the Titans first formed each of you gave an interview, I thought I may as well comply, they've been clamouring after it for ages.' He explained, giving up on his hair and focusing on making his eyes shine just enough to look fantastic for the photos.

'Charly you are taking longer than even I to ready yourself.' Starfire was standing nearby, arms crossed, looking thoroughly unimpressed with his battle with his own unruly epidermis.

'Why does my hair do that?' He yelled in frustration, comparing it to a photo he had had taken on a good day.

'It's the sign of an uncontrollable personality.' Terra told him, wrapping her arms around him. 'Stop worrying, the city already loves you, why should an interview scare you?' She was asking in a jokey tone but his face fell.

'The only other interviews I've endured have been concerned with tragedy.' He sighed, then glancing at the tall woman who had come to question him and taking a seat on the couch surrounded by the other Titans who he silently thanked for their moral support.

'Hello again Titans,' the woman almost shrieked in a nasal voice, 'For the two or three of you who haven't met me, my name is Gloria Ecnasiun, it's Greek.' She added as an aside when Charly eyed her strangely.

'Does she realise that her name is nuisance backwards?' Charly whispered to Raven, causing a smirk to glance across the dark girl's features.

'I'll just jump right in with the most important question, Spitfire, you are currently the most popular person in Jump City, how does this make you feel?' She waved a Dictaphone in his face.

'Indifferent.' Came his single word reply. He had fallen into his 'I hate everything' routine that he adopted during stressful times.

'I…see…Anyway, the press has been going wild lately with rumours of relationships in the tower, how do you react to these?' She had generalised the question to the whole team.

'So far the situation has been…confusing, to say the least.' Robin told her in full 'I'm the leader' mode.

'It seems to be levelling out quite nicely now though.' Terra grinned and slipped an arm over Charly's shoulder.

'May I ask, before we continue,' Raven spoke up suddenly, 'What the need is for the Dictaphone if this a televised interview?' She finished with a winning smirk.

'Televised?' Charly hissed at her, 'No-one told me it was televised! I didn't even notice those cameras before! Ah, my hair!' He began to fidget.

'Stop it.' Everyone told him at once. He did.

'So, Tara,' Gloria began.

'It's Terra.' The blonde girl corrected, acidly.

'Right, I was wondering if we could speak at length about your somewhat 'rocky' relationship with the Titans in the past?' This woman was overstepping the mark already.

'No, we can't.' Came the very bland answer.

'OK then. Spitfire, since joining the Titans you have become Jumps most sought after male teenaged inhabitant, almost every girl in the surrounding area wants to be your girlfriend, how do you do it?' The vacuous questions began again.

'Some people say it's the accent, though honestly I don't know. Oh and sorry ladies, I'm accounted for.' He copied Terra's action from earlier and they sat in a sort of half-embrace.

'Raven.' Gloria span quite quickly, 'There has been talk recently that you have been heard talking about your 'brother', may I ask who this phantom sibling is?' She grinned even wider at the thought of this potential scoop.

'You have directed most of your questions towards him.' Raven replied, seriously considering going to get a book.

'I see! Well, Spitfire, some would call you very lucky. You've been reunited with your sister, earned a place on the team and live with three beautiful girls in a giant, all-expenses paid tower.'

'Point one, that wasn't even a question. Point two, it's just united, we hadn't met before and point three, why aren't you asking anyone else anything?' Charly had grown an enormous dislike for this woman already.

'There are also four girls in the tower.' Sam pointed out.

'Yes, but one is his sister, I know he's strange but I don't think he's into that.' Gloria stepped over another mark.

'Strange?' Charly spat.

'Out of the mainstream, different. It's a good thing!' Gloria defended.

'Now,' she began again, 'it was all over the news when you finally captured the criminal Slade, who is currently being held at a maximum security prison that is monitored by the Justice League, if however he should ever escape what would you do?'

Robin had tensed at the mention of his nemesis, as had everyone else but Charly, who remained bafflingly nonchalant.

'We'd be ready, we would send him right back.' Robin almost shouted.

Charly merely sighed.

'I don't think he'd be looking for us if he got out, I gave him his ultimatum the last time we met. Leave us alone or endure the dark abyss.' Charly uttered his veiled death-threat in a tone of contempt.

'How would you feel if, simply to spite you, Slade attacked someone you care about?' Gloria asked Charly.

'Everyone I care about is a resident of the tower, so I wouldn't be as worried as you'd think.' He answered, looking suspicious.

'What if he cornered one of you alone, say Terra for example, how would you feel then?' She leaned in to entice a good answer.

'Murderous.' Charly spat sharply, his hair igniting and his eyes blazing for a second.

Gloria jumped back a little way and turned to Sam, trying to regain composure.

'So, I'm told you are called Flare, you are the newest addition to the team and as such are sometimes overlooked in the media, what exactly can you do?'

Sam looked positively enraged for a second then put on a gracious smile and answered the question.

'I'm a pyrokinetic, similar to Spitfire though not as powerful,' she seemed to spit the last four words with sheer contempt, 'He's been helping me to learn how to control my powers better recently, though I don't think I'll need the sessions anymore.' She glanced sidelong at Charly, who was staring at her with a mixture of confusion, hurt and suspicion on his face.

'Thank you dear,' Gloria patronised, 'One last question, Spitfire has been shown to the public as a fun-loving joker style character, where does this leave you two?' She gestured towards Beast Boy and Cyborg.

'He's not a joker, he can be more mopey than Raven sometimes!' Beast Boy defended his title as 'jokester' within the group.

'He's right you know.' Raven intoned as Charly nodded.

'I'd like to speak to Spitfire alone for a minute,' Gloria said suddenly, 'So he can add his own section like the others did when you first started up.' She grinned.

The other Titans filed out while Charly fretted about his hair some more.

After some routine questions about his age, place of birth, childhood and life before the Titans Gloria went into the meat of the interview. (in response to the latter two points Charly had answered 'Short and sweet.' and 'I don't talk about that, even with the other Titans.'

'So, Spitfire, how is life in the tower at the moment?' Gloria's grin had become the kind someone would wear when asking you how much the drugs cost. When you had been caught taking them.

'It's good, what's the word I'm looking for? Fulfilling.' He answered, leaning back in the couch and trying not to set it alight.

'No…arguments? Sibling rivalry between Raven and yourself? Rocky relationships?' She leaned in a little.

'Well,' Charly's eyebrow raised a fraction, 'We recently got through a small argument involving myself, Sam and Terra but nothing worth writing about. Other than that, nothing.' He looked at her suspiciously, not realising that he'd given a member of the press useful information. He wasn't used to this situation.

'I see,' Gloria's grin grew wider, 'Now, we've all seen the photos of Raven and Beast Boy together…'

'I haven't, neither have they I'll assume, since no-one has been sent to another dimension or punched by a gorilla.' Charly interrupted.

'Not important, d'you think there's a relationship blooming there? I mean they're like oil and water. That means they don't mix well.' She obviously assumed that turn of phrase wasn't common in England.

'Don't patronise me, I know what it means. I'm also not at liberty to discuss this situation.' He had realised the approach me should take with this woman.

'Although, I can talk about my latest scientific research, in which I've been searching for a way to mix H2O with crude oil. Cyborg has been helping me in my attempts and so far the results look promising.' He chuckled at her oblivious expression, she had obviously heard 'scientific research' and shut off. 'The water is proving deeper than I thought and the oil not as dark, which presents many problems and solutions in itself.' He stopped again.

'We'll be seeing some oily water soon, I hope.' He winked at her and stood, 'Right, well, if that's all I'd like you to leave.' Gloria came back online and seemed eager to leave all of a sudden,

After she and the camera crew was gone he told the other Titans that she had simply asked some personal questions that weren't really important.

-------------------------------------

The interview, or rather the small selection of clips they showed, was quite boring, nothing really new or exciting. Most of Raven's answers were cut due to their cutting and sarcastic nature, Sam was completely overlooked and only the answers in which Charly was being civil were showed.

'All in all,' Charly began, 'Nothing special. They totally ignored the bit where it was just me.'

'Not quite.' Robin said, walking in holding some vacuous magazine that had been mailed to them. 'That section was used in a magazine rather than on TV. Let me read you a section.' He sounded mad.

'We have it from reliable sources _inside the tower_ that the Titans are pulling through a massive fight between two of the ladies and everyone's favourite enigma 'Spitfire' who appears to have been biting off more than he can chew, if you know what we mean.' He paused in his reading and glared at Charly.

'What did you tell them?' He demanded.

'Nothing, just that there had been a small argument, they've blown this way out of proportion!' He defended.

Robin resumed his reading.

'Could this mean a split for the Titans? Only time will tell, in the meantime however we've dubbed Spitfire our 'celebrity love-rat of the month'. You should feel ashamed of yourself, you mysterious British fiend. We can only speculate as to the depraved things the three got up to that caused the fight, but we can assure you it certainly isn't behaviour we would expect from the protectors of the city.' Robin's glare was bordering on frightening.

'I can't believe you would let something like that slip! We don't need this right now.' Robin began pacing.

'We don't need this ever!' Charly grabbed his jacket from the back of the sofa and stood.

'Where are you going?' Robin asked him.

'I have a magazine editor to see.' He replied with an evil grin, vanishing as soon as he said it.

'This can't go well.' Robin sighed, considering ordering everyone to go to the office of the editor as protection.

'So, you don't need the sessions with Charly an more?' Cyborg asked Sam when everyone went back to their routine.

'Nope, my control is great and I feel like there's nothing he could teach me now. So that's that, no more sessions.' She replied rather hurriedly.

'That's great! Now we needn't worry about you losing control of you power. I'm glad he was able to help you.' Cyborg got up and set off to see to his car.

'Yeah,' Sam sighed, 'I can do it on my own.' She didn't sound all that convinced, herself.

**This was really only a build up to the turn of events that comes later, although it's hinted at towards the end.**

**A smaller event is hinted at rather obtusely in the middle as well, but I'm sure you can work that one out.**

**Anywho, Reamis, out.**


	20. Pain

**Chapter 20**

**Nice.**

**Just like to say I got 1111 hits this week or month or whatever. I don't know why it's important; I just love little things like that, like when the clock says 10:01 and stuff.**

**Anyway, story:**

Spring was in full swing now, the winter blues relinquishing their hold on the tower, things seemed more cheerful, fights were resolved more easily and everyone was generally happier.

Charly punched the volleyball back over the net on the roof of the tower, only to have it returned at an incredible speed by a bionic arm.

'Hey, no fair, you're really strong!' He whined, half serious.

'If you can't take the heat get off the court.' Cyborg countered with a mischievous grin.

'Can't handle the heat? You just sealed your fate, my friend.' Charly shot back, shooting a little grin to his own team. (Charly, Terra, Beast Boy and Starfire vs. Cyborg, Raven, Sam and Robin.)

Beast Boy served with a slicing shot that Robin countered easily but slowly, allowing Charly time to slow the relative temporal dimension.

He slammed his fist into the slow-motion ball, igniting it at the same time as allowing it to be effected by his temporal powers. To him it was merely a flaming ball that moved at a relatively slow speed thanks to his average strength.

To everyone else however it was a fireball moving at twice the speed of sound which became imbedded in the floor right at Cyborg's feet.

'Point, set and match to Team Awesome!' Terra cried, jumping in a show of joy.

'The sweet taste of victory graces my palate.' Charly shouted, mainly to Raven, with whom he had initiated some kind of odd 'bonding through sibling rivalry' thing.

'It's a shame you're not good enough to taste it more than once.' She shot back with a grin, which was quite unlike her.

'Soured by the wit and surprise of an out-of-character remark. Why?' He screamed at the sky in an over dramatic scene of defeat, on his knees, hands stretched toward the beautiful mid-day sky.

'Can anyone else feel the pressure building?' Robin asked suddenly, from where he was taking huge gulps from a water bottle. 'I think there's a storm building.'

Everyone glanced to the cloudless sky and looked back, shaking their heads at their eccentric leader.

Charly leapt to his feet all of a sudden, in need of something to do.

'Anyone fancy a walk in the city? I'm so bored since we finished that game of volleyball we played.' He told them.

'We just finished that, about two minutes ago.' Starfire looked at him strangely.

'I know and I'm bored now. Walk in the city? Anyone? Fine.' He set off for the edge of the roof, created a platform and carried himself away from the tower.

Beast Boy looked torn between TV and going with his friend, after a while his choice was made.

'Charly, wait up!' He turned into some sort of falcon and flew off after the departing pyrokinetic.

---------------------------------------

The two walked down the streets, trying to avoid people as they went as neither were in the mood to be mobbed.

'So, how are things going with Raven and you?' Charly asked suddenly.

'It's ok, we haven't had a fight in a few days.' Beast Boy thought nothing of the question.

'So, you still got a crush on her?' Charly glanced over his bottle of Mountain Dew with a grin.

'What? No, who told you that? I don't…' Beast Boy didn't finish his answer, trailing off into silence.

'Damn, this water's slippery **(see the last chapter to understand)**' Charly commented, oddly.

Beast Boy was about to ask him what he meant when a loud screeching was heard.

A car was careering down a hill towards heavy traffic, it looked to have been hit by some kind of explosive weapon or power, or something really heavy.

'Oh no!' Beast Boy became a cheetah, speeding to the hill the buss was rolling down and became a blue, or rather green, whale, thus stopping the bus with his self-proclaimed 'nature's airbag'.

He reverted to human form, rubbing his stomach, and shouted for Charly to help him check the inside.

The door opened easily and their view was blurred by the smoke billowing out from the cabin.

'This can't be good.' Charly pointed out, just as the sound of scrabbling and gasping permeated his senses.

'Crap, there are people in here!' He shouted to the green boy and they charged in, not before Beast Boy had put an emergency call in to the tower.

'Hello?' He yelled into the darkness, the smoke having blacked out the windows of the bus.

'I've got one, but I can't lift whatever's on top of them.' Charly shouted, sounding strained.

'Why?' Beast Boy fought through the stinging smoke to where he thought the voice was coming from.

'I'm not as strong as you, BB, now help me.' He was right in front of the green boy before either noticed each other.

Together they pulled up a seat which had become lodged under a strip of roof that had bent inwards, thankfully it seemed there were only about four people on the bus and they were all centralised. As a result instead of being injured they were simply trapped.

By the time the other Titans got to the scene everyone was out and being packed into ambulances. Save for Charly and Beast Boy, who were both lying on the ground nearby and coughing occasionally.

'Thanks dude, I owe you one for when that sharp spike thing swung at me.' Beast Boy chuckled a little due to the adrenaline wearing off.

'Think nothing of it.' Replied a heavily bleeding Charly. The head wound no doubt caused by the aforementioned swinging 'spike thing'.

Oddly enough, to Charly at least, when the Titans spotted them Cyborg, Sam and Raven ran straight to Beast Boy, Robin, Starfire and Terra came to Charly to see to his head wound.

--------------------------------

'So, how am I fairing?' Charly strained to open his eyes, the blood loss playing havoc with his nervous system and as a result it hurt to do pretty much anything.

'A damn sight worse than me.' Beast Boy entered, grinning.

'I know that, but d'you think I'll be okay to fight when we find out who attacked that bus?' He asked Cyborg.

Just before the mech-man could speak the alarm began to blare, it's incessant red light flickering.

'No.' Cyborg said simply, before running off to join the rest of the team.

'Might as well sleep then.' Charly said to himself with a sigh.

After a while he drifted into a dreamless sleep which he welcomed like an old friend.

---------------------------------

'Get her on the table!' Charly's ears deceived him and his brain couldn't decipher who that was that was frantically shouting.

'I need something to stop the bleeding, but the burns are a priority.' Cyborg's voice floated around, calm but hurried.

'What's going on?' Charly's eyes flicked open and he tried to sit up.

'She got injured.' Robin said, not really helping.

'Who? Not Terra?' Charly leapt from the bed to scan the room, finding everyone accounted for but…

'Sam!' He cried, surging forwards to see the problem.

'She's bleeding from multiple cuts and she suffered mild burns from the blast.' Cyborg tried to allay his fears by explaining what happened.

'We didn't see the attacker, but they were using some kind of projectile explosive.' Robin told him, passing Cyborg some medical thing that no-one recognised but the two of them.

'Burns?' Charly stepped back a little way. 'That can't be right.' He sat on the edge of the bed, trying to figure out why it was a very bad thing that she was burned.

'She'll be okay, there's no internal injury, thankfully, and I'm going to guess the burns will fade eventually, what with her powers and all.' Cyborg calmed down and everyone returned to a state of normalcy.

'She needs rest, you _both_ do.' Robin rounded on Charly, who grudgingly obliged.

After the Titans left he span on the medical bed and saw Sam was awake.

'Sam, those burns, how did you get them?' He asked, seriousness oozing from him.

'Must have been the blast.' She told him, straining her voice.

'Don't lie to me, Sam, there's no way a pyro can get burnt like that from…well, anything.' He sat up to address her better.

'It's nothing, Charly, drop it.' She tried to turn away from him but her injuries stopped her.

'It's _not_ nothing Sam! You've been injured by something you should be able to control, that doesn't bode well.' He stood and reached a hand out in an emotional melodrama of a reasonable man perplexed.

'Just leave me alone!' She shouted at him through tears. 'You owe me that at least.' She finished quietly.

'Fine…Fine!' He stormed out of the room and slammed the door closed.

'Dick!' Sam shouted after him.

-------------------------------------

Terra walked into Charly's room to find him sitting in the darkest corner, hugging his knees to his chest and sobbing.

'Holy crap! Charly, what's wrong?' She rushed over to him, throwing her arms around him as a comfort.

'Sam,' He choked out, 'She…She's on a downward spiral and I don't know how to get her off it.' He told her, leaning in to confide in his love.

'She's just trying to find her footing, she'll settle down. You don't have to save her from herself because she got some minor burns, I mean you pyros must be used to that kind of thing.' She tried to reason, almost rocking the boy in her arms.

'That's just it! Pyros don't get burned, no way, no how! The only time I saw it happen was back in New Orleans with a girl I met there. She over did her powers and it gave her severe burns, she died because I couldn't help her.' He broke into more sobs because of the memory and his weakened emotional state.

'The point is, pyros only burn when they do it themselves, and it's only because they can't handle their power.' He stared into her eyes, blurry red meeting clear blue, and had to fight the overwhelming urge to kiss her.

'So what are you saying? Sam shouldn't have stopped the sessions?' Terra asked him, holding him close again.

'Yes, that and I think she only did it because of…us. It's obvious she's in love with me. She stopped the sessions out of spite and now her power is killing her! I couldn't help!' He broke down once again in her arms and they sat together on the floor in the corner of his room.

He didn't know how long they had been like that, but eventually he calmed down and formed a rational plan.

'Terra, you can't tell anyone about this until I've confronted Sam about it, ok? Promise me that.' He demanded.

She promised.

'Thank you, for that and for helping me. I love you.' He pulled her into the kiss he longed for earlier.

'I love you too.' Terra retorted when they broke apart.

'We should get back to whatever we were doing before this.' He helped her up and they walked dow the halls together.

------------------------------------------

Robin was leaning over a screen, searching for their assailant, no doubt. He glanced up as they entered and took in every facet of the two teens.

Charly's hair was lying flatter than usual and the red of his eyes was now a dull brown, all in all he looked thoroughly upset.

Terra was easier to read, her concern for her boyfriend showing through the face she put on.

'Charly, what's wrong?' He asked the teen.

'Nothing Robin, found 'em yet?' He shifted focus effectively.

'Not yet, d'you mind if I talk to Terra for a minute?' The boy-wonder asked, slyly.

'Not at all.' An oblivious Charly set off for the door, 'I need to see someone anyway.'

When the door had closed Robin turned on Terra with a strange smile, Cyborg, who was helping, merely watched the detective at work.

'Terra,' He began sweetly, 'What's wrong with Charly?'

'Nothing, he told you.' She covered hurriedly.

'Come on now Terra, if we don't know what's wrong we can't help him. That's what friends are for, isn't it?' He asked, dropping his sweet tone but remaining friendly.

'I guess so.' Terra was breaking, this was too easy.

'So, what's wrong with him?' Robin leaned closer.

He noticed Terra's eyes darting to the door, checking for Charly, he noticed her lip quivering, she was about to crack.

'Please?' He finished.

'Ok,' Terra began, 'He told me…'

----------------------------------------

'Sam?' Charly stepped back through the door he had slammed.

'What the hell do you want?' Came his answer.

'Sam, we need to talk...'

**End chapter.**

**Thank you for reading so far, I hope you'll stick with me, at least until this section is over.**

**Review, please.**

**Reamis, out.**


	21. A Friendship Ends

**Chapter 21**

**It's gonna be hard to type this, my hand is playing up.**

**Also, I've been reading around and do you know how hard it is not to steal a premise for a story and use it? Very.**

**I don't want to ruin the end of this chapter, so I'll write this here:**

**Just as I finished writing this I was listening to Untitled 1 by Sigur Ros, and just as I hit the final period key the track ended. I almost cried.**

**Anywho.**

'So…she died?' Sam was sat on the edge of the bed in the medical bay giving Charly her full attention despite their fight earlier.

'Yes, that's why I was worried when you turned up with burns. I shouldn't have yelled at you though, I overreacted. I'm sorry.' Charly attempted to reconcile what little friendship they had left.

'I'm sorry for not listening to you earlier. I just…want to deal with it on my own.' Sam looked away.

'I understand that and I'll let you get on with it. But promise me you won't over do it, ok?' He took her hand so as to establish contact and make sure she was listening.

'I promise.' She retorted.

They sat for a while, enjoying each others company like they used to until they both realised the position they were in.

Charly let go off Sam's hand and stood to leave, but not before Sam got her chance to ask the question that had been plaguing her for a while.

'So Charly, was there no way we…' She began, unable to finish despite her determination.

'Sorry Sam, you know it couldn't have worked. However much I hate to admit it I was only attracted to you because I was 'on the rebound' as everyone seems fond of telling me. Again, I'm sorry, but that's the way it is.' He flinched slightly at the bluntness of his own comment.

'Try to get some rest, kay?' He asked her with a smile.

She didn't answer and he didn't stick around to find out why. The hiss of the door closing was Sam's cue to let the silent tears she had been withholding flow.

---------------------------------------------

'…and she died and he thinks it's his fault.' Terra finished just as Charly re-entered the room.

Robin simply nodded, a grim look on his face under his ever present mask.

'What are you guys talking about?' Charly asked them flippantly. He already knew.

'Nothing!' Terra yelled unexpectedly.

'Oh really?' Charly smiled and walked over to her.

He shot a glance at Robin that seemed to say 'This is how it's done' and then turned back to Terra.

'Terra,' He deep into her eyes as though boring into her soul, 'Aren't you going to tell…'

'I told him, I'm sorry.' She said before he finished, suddenly very interested in her shoelaces

'I thought you would. Not doubting you, just that Robin's good at his job.' He hugged her as a reassurance then turned to his leader.

'No more of the detective stuff with my girlfriend ok?' He mock threatened, his voice implying 'the detective stuff' was akin to 'fooling around'.

'Have you spoken to her?' Robin put in, serious again.

'Yes. She wants to go it alone from here and I agreed. She can handle herself now, I did, however, make her promise not to overdo it.' He told them, sighing a little.

For a while everything was normal in the tower. Beast Boy got a new high score on 'Super Death Bringer 46' which was promptly beaten by Cyborg, who in turn was trounced by Charly.

Raven managed to finally finish her book and move on to another. Starfire learned to cook from Robin. Sam was still incapacitated and Terra went to the mall, alone, strangely.

Beast Boy was about to accuse Charly of cheating for the third time when the alarm sounded.

'It's the guys who attacked us last time, the bank on Main Street.' Robin rattled off, reading from the screen.

'What are they doing there?' Beast Boy asked, gaining looks from everyone in the tower, including Sam who had come running at the sound of the alarm.

'Terra, bank, Main Street. Now.' Charly almost ordered through his communicator, during times like this he was almost Robin-esque in his single-mindedness, holding no regard for personal relationships.

'Let's ride!' Cyborg yelled, running towards the garage.

--------------------------------------

The T-car screeched around a corner and stopped exactly where Cyborg had been aiming. The Titans piled out and got into formation, which was far more complex now there were three more members.

Sam, or Flare, was the first forwards when Robin gave the order, charging towards the bank like a woman possessed.

'What they hell is she doing?' Spitfire yelled to Terra over the sound of yelling, sirens and…what was that?

'Gunshots!' Robin shouted as he realised Sam was alone inside.

Charging after her the scene unfolded before their collective eyes. Three guys, regular bank robber style guys, no powers, were taking random shots at Sam, who had adopted her trademark shield-like structure.

The bullets hit the flames and melted, hitting the floor as molten blobs, Sam was grinning and making her assailants dance with the odd fireball or two.

'I was worried, seems I don't need to be.' Spitfire raised his own flame-shield and elevated himself on a platform next to hers. 'How are you going?' He grinned at her.

'Oh, great. This is more fun than you let on.' She threw another fireball at their attackers and laughed as it struck one guy's boot.

The other Titans moved in, all proverbial guns blazing. Robin fighting off one guy with his Bo-staff, Cyborg randomly taking shots over a marble counter at one guy.

Turns out there were more like thirteen guys than three.

Starfire knocked a group out by throwing a star bolt salvo at the pillar behind them, Terra helped by making sure they weren't crushed before throwing more rocks at another group, knocking them out.

After a while there were only about five left, three of which were still shooting at the two pyros.

'Haven't they run out of ammo yet?' Flare nudged Spitfire and pointed at a guy who was trying to flank them.

'Thanks.' He threw a fireball at the man's head, it was a cool, solid one that knocked him out.

The two remaining stood back to back, looking around fearfully until one pulled a little device from his pocket.

'Good thing the boss gave us this.' He drawled, pressing the button.

'Boss?' Robin shouted before realising the bank was filled and surrounded by Slade-bots.

'Should've known.' He growled, flying into a rage and taking a few bots out in one flurry of attacks.

'Not more of these.' Sam growled in a voice so filled with hate that Charly actually shivered.

'You know Slade? How?' He asked her, restraining her for a second.

'A little meeting in the past, that's all. Ever wonder why I never mentioned a family?' She looked as though she was about to cry. Or kill someone.

'Slade.' Charly spat. It wasn't a question.

'That murderer. I'll rip him to shreds!' She yelled, breaking free and running towards the bots.

The rest of the Titans stood back in awe and a little fear as Flare tore through rank after rank of the seemingly endless robot army, fireballs blazing, narrowly missing the team.

'Flare! You need to calm down or someone's going to get hurt!' Spitfire tried to get close but was restrained by Robin.

They watched as she began to tire, the flames surrounding her body were dulling and she took more than a couple of hits.

Spitfire broke free and charged towards the black clad mechanoids, ripping at them with every ounce of strength he had. He glanced around and noted that the other Titans had joined them, giving him some slack.

Landing next to Sam he removed his jacket and placed it round her shivering shoulders.

'Here, you start to feel cold if you use that much energy.' He smiled, blasting another bot that was running towards them.

'Spitfire,' Her voice was weak, 'I can end this if you get the others away from here.' She all but whispered.

'Hell no! After what we talked about?' He yelled.

'Charly,' She used his real name during a mission, she wasn't kidding, 'I'm done, my time is up, you can check if you like.' She seemed resigned to her course of action.

Charly did just that, noticing an odd fluctuation in her life energy, he fought back a gasp and tried to talk her out of it.

'We can fix this, Sam, we can!' He was frantic. 'We can make it better, you'll see!'

'No, we can't. Robin!' She called, 'Get everyone out of here, I can handle this if no-one's in the radius.'

Robin looked apprehensive.

'_She wouldn't do anything as stupid as that if she didn't know the outcome, it'll be fine.'_ He told himself mentally.

'Ok. Titans, retreat.' He ordered, dropping a smoke bomb and waiting for the others to run into the newly provided cover and down a back street.

'Charly, let go!' Sam pushed him off her and he was grabbed by Robin and dragged through the smoke and into the street where the others watched and waited.

Sam stood, slowly, and planted her feet. Raising her head up she screamed at the Slade-bot army.

'This is for my mother!' She began to pull energy into herself, light glowing from her eyes.

'Can you feel that?' Raven asked her brother, out of the blue. He didn't answer, his eyes were streaming and he was straining against Robin and Cyborg who were holding him.

Sam floated into the air slightly, her whole body now glowing strangely with a constant aura of red light.

The Titans still watched as it flickered a little. Sam's eyes jerked open and she screamed, an ear splitting shriek of pain.

'No!' Charly shouted, almost as loud, breaking from the restraints of the second strongest member of the team and his leader.

It was too late, everyone watched as the light seemed to rush back into the now writhing Sam and she crashed to the floor, a smoking heap.

By the time Charly got there he could hardly see through his tears. He was closely followed by the rest of the Titans who inspected the horrifically burned girl lying on the street. Oblivious to the advancing Slade-bots, their electronic brains leaving no moments for compassion, no sympathy for the Titans, many of whom were weeping.

'She's still alive.' Cyborg announced, after a scan.

Charly stood, waving a hand over Sam's prone figure and creating a barrier of flame.

'Get away. Far away.' He told the team, gaining him odd looks.

'Now!' He yelled, a jet of flame launching from his mouth, his eyes had become mini infernos.

The Titans, sensing this was not a time to cross him, left for the car in a hurry, though not without protest.

Charly stared at the Slade-bots, hatred filling his four red eyes, which were easily visible from the T-car which was about to speed away. Not before, however, they heard the demonic voice of their team mate, which seemed to emanate from everywhere.

'I dearly hope you can see this from where you are, Slade. As for you toys, you can scrape them from the ground later.' The rumbling of pure rage made everyone in the car shudder violently.

'This one's for Sam.' The voice chuckled.

A enormous explosion rocked the entire city. It may well have been a nuclear explosion, but the Titans knew better. The car was flipped forwards by the force of the blast which also melted the back bumper and blew out the window.

The explosion reached around a half mile before stopping and dissipating, miraculously no buildings were damaged and it would later be revealed that the only things destroy or even damaged were the robots. No injuries to civilians.

----------------------------------------

The tower was deathly quiet while the Titans awaited their team mates, they had been waiting for about an hour when the door finally opened.

Charly stumbled in, his clothes singed and his eyes glowing so intensely in was painful to look at them, holding the charred form of Sam, cradled like a baby.

He laid her down on the floor and took a few steps back before taking a breath.

'She's gone.' Was all he said.

**End Chapter.**

**Reamis, out.**


	22. The League

**Chapter 22.**

**Thanks to everyone who read my last and reviewed and stuff.**

**Let me explain:**

**This is set a while on, which I'll mention, but it's going to seem very sudden and a little heartless.  
**

**Story:**

The funeral was within the week, the Mayor taking some time off to say a few words (which angered Charly as the mayor had never met Sam) and it was all very sombre and upsetting.

During the proceedings the only person to not shed a tear was in fact Charly, who had done all the crying he could in the days leading to then. Even Raven, overcome with everyone else's grief, let a few tears fall, quickly covered up of course.

Seeing her like this was almost painful for a certain green teen, used to her normally stoic appearance, he slipped an arm around her shoulder and whispered some generic reassurances.

It didn't help her much, but she was thankful for the comfort of his warmth against the cold of the breeze.

-------------------------------------------

It had been a month since that day and though Charly still wore a black arm band the mourning had ended. Everyone had returned to normalcy, or as normal as could be, considering.

'Guys, I was out in the city today and I had a great idea.' Beast Boy shouted, halfway through a game of 'Racing Rockets 77759376'.

'Oh, what's that?' Charly asked, his voice totally emotionless.

He had been like this since the funeral, never really committing to anything properly. The only time he didn't do something half-assed was on missions and the only time he looked to be enjoying himself was with Terra.

'We need a bigger TV.' Beast Boy finished, a little deflated by the reaction the British boy had given him.

'Yeah!' Cyborg yelled.

'Why?' Robin asked at exactly the same time.

Beast Boy floundered, wondering whether it was too early to use that excuse and if he could do it tastefully enough.

'To…take our mind off…things, a bigger screen would let us become more absorbed.' He attempted.

Charly left the room.

'Great, look what you did now.' Terra scolded him.

'How could you use that as an excuse this soon?' Raven asked rhetorically.

'I…Sorry.' He stared at the floor.

'BB, TV buying, go now we!' Cyborg shouted, not making much sense in his rush for a bigger TV.

'Just go.' Robin groaned as the two stared at him.

--------------------------------------

'Charly? You in here?' Terra leaned into Charly's room and found him strumming the acoustic guitar he had bought a few weeks ago.

'Hey Terra. Something the matter?' He asked, seeing her apprehensive look.

'No, nothing, just…how are you doing?' She sat on the bed next to him.

'You ask me that every day and every day I tell you. I'm fine, as fine as I can be considering I killed another one.' He threw the instrument to the ground, angry at, well, everything.

'You didn't kill her, Charly. Listen to me,' She grabbed his face and turned it to her, 'It's _not_ your fault.' She drilled into his mind.

He stared at her eyes for a long time then finally sighed.

'I know. I just keep thinking that perhaps I could have helped.' He inspected his Converse.

'You're the one who keeps telling us all that 'things happen because they happen', your words, not mine,' She told him when he shot her a look, 'I guess it's just another…'

'Kind of fate.' He finished his own philosophy. 'You're right, it's unhealthy to dwell on it. Thank you.' He grabbed the guitar and strummed a brighter chord than before.

'So BB and Cy went to buy a bigger TV.' She informed him, like nothing had happened.

'Really? Sweet.' He grinned for the first time in a month.

-----------------------------------------------

'…so I suggested we come to the park so they can install the new TV in peace.' Cyborg explained while basting some ribs with something on a barbeque.

'Right, so how big is the new screen exactly?' Robin asked, arms folded.

'About thrice as big as our current one.' Cyborg told him without looking up.

'Thrice?' Robin echoed.

'He's been spending far too long with the kid.' Raven walked past, reading her newest book.

She had taken to calling Charly 'the kid' recently, an extension of their odd 'bonding through sibling rivalry' thing. That and he was technically her 'little brother'.

He simply glared at her for a second, ripping his eyes from the flower he was staring at.

It was nothing special, a daisy, but there was only this one as far as the eye could see and it was directly in front of where Charly had decided to sit, he hadn't even noticed it before.

Simple things like that had been getting to him more and more lately, a single flower, a reasonless smile, matching numbers on a clock. He couldn't understand it.

'Hey Terra.' He shouted suddenly to the girl, who was standing nearby watching a group of preppy girls fawn over some jock. She looked both annoyed and amused at the same time.

'Yeah?' She turned, shaking her head to rid herself of the lethargy that was taking hold.

'You like Fall Out Boy?' He asked, still staring at the flower.

'They're fun, why?' She watched as he pulled a couple of tickets from his pocket and waved them around a little.

'I've got a friend who works at the venue, owed me a favour, so I got two tickets to the show next month.' He told her. It was quite a common occurrence for the two of them to go to shows, sometimes they took whoever wanted to go, but usually it was the two of them.

Needless to say they came back late, or early depending on how you count the change from one day to the next.

It was because of this that they began sleeping together. If one were too tired or lazy to return to their own room they would simply share the bed in whoever's room they happened to stumble into. Nobody thought anything of it, and it was hardly ever mentioned except in jokes. ('I'm going to bed.' Terra would announce. 'Charly, are you going with her?' Cyborg would invariably reply.)

Just that morning Charly had woken to find his arm around Terra's waist as she slept, curled into him in her bed. It was the most rested he had felt in a long time.

Back to the present, while Terra had expressed her excitement over the prospect of _another_ free show, Beast Boy had whined that he had had to pay for his ticket (he's a fan, no-one knew.).

They spent a few hours in the park until Cyborg got a call informing him that the workmen had finished setting up the new TV and they set off back to the tower.

---------------------------------------------

'It's…so…big…' Cyborg stared in awe.

Beast Boy was lying in a puddle of drool and the other Titans were looking up at the new screen, which now covered all three of the huge windows in the front of the tower.

'What should we watch on it first?' Starfire asked quietly.

'A movie!' Beast Boy and Cyborg shouted together.

'Action.' Cyborg roared.

'Horror!' Beast Boy cried at the same time.

This argument continued for some time until Robin finally snapped yelled at the two.

'Enough, we'll watch the one movie we all enjoy as much as each other.' He whipped the DVD seemingly from nowhere.

'Lord of the Rings.' He almost proclaimed.

Just as the team were taking their seats Cyborg explained that he had beefed up the sound system so they should brace themselves.

----------------------------------------------------

'Three hours of pure entertainment.' Charly sighed as they all stood at the end of the movie.

'What?' Robin had been seated near one of the speakers which Cyborg had turned up during a battle scene.

'Nothing. That TV is awesome.' Charly glanced back at the sofa only to spot Raven, frozen to the spot.

'Raven, Rae?' He snapped his fingers in front of her eyes.

She jumped back to reality and slapped his hand away.

'Don't call me that.' She growled as she left the room.

'It's agreed, the new TV was a good idea, well done BB.' Robin congratulated.

Beast Boy's ear pricked up in happiness at finally having a good idea, but also as he heard something.

'Mail's here.' He yelled suddenly, running to the front door.

The Titans awaited his return, which was quick as he had become a cheetah. He doled out the fan mail, making a point of showing how much more he got than Cyborg, he was instantly deflated when he saw how much Raven got and even more so when a great deal of the wad turned out to be for Charly.

He divided the remaining envelopes into separate piles: Bills (they only got a monthly pizza tab, the rest was paid for by the city, they just got a copy of the bill.) Letters of condolence, fan mail for Sam (these were burned) and junk.

After that there was only one left that didn't have a category, which Beast Boy tossed to Robin.

He read and re-read the letter a couple of times until he finally turned to the team.

'They want us to do a parade.' He told them, his voice betraying a hatred of the word.

'Didn't catch that Rob.' Charly leaned over to read the letter.

'They want us to be part of the thanksgiving day parade in Metropolis. They tried to get Superman, he refused and when no-one else in the League would do it Batman decided they should ask us.' Robin ground his teeth together.

'I think it would be fun!' Terra shouted, grinning.

'I also believe it would be enjoyable.' Starfire piped up.

'Couldn't hurt.' Beast Boy shrugged, trying to look like he wasn't dieing to do it.

Eventually Cyborg agreed and Robin sighed in defeat, all eyes then turned to the two that were left.

Fortunately Raven had learned long ago that arguing with the entire team got you nowhere and she accepted, much to the dismay of Charly, left to defend his front alone.

'If you make me do this I swear you'll never see sunlight again.' He shot at Robin.

'Do I need to make it an order?' The leader asked in a patronising tone.

'I hate you so much it hurts.' Charly hissed as Robin issued the extremely odd order.

'This is really not the time for this kind of thing.' Charly tried to talk everyone out of it.

'Look, they asked us to do it and we're doing it.' Robin said in a final tone.

'No, they asked Superman to do it, then when he refused they asked someone else from the JL to do it and when no-one would Batman told them to ask us.' Charly practically yelled. Truthfully, he loved arguing with Robin, it let him flex his yelling muscles.

'Exactly, they asked us and we _are_ doing it. Six votes to one.' Robin had won, it was over.

The team went back to their routine, still discussing the parade, Charly however, continued to grumble. Oblivious, it seemed, to the incoming signal on the communication function of the mainframe, which in turn was connected to the new giant TV.

It wasn't until he muttered the next sentence that he realised his mistake.

'I don't know why Superman can't do it, how lazy can you be? Batman's not much better, seriously, palming it off on us? Lazy.' He shouted to the retreating back of Robin, so as not to totally lose face.

'I'd say we were more busy than lazy.' A deep, powerful voice issued from the enormous speakers behind the pyrokinetic.

Charly's eyes widened in abject horror as he realised where the sound had come from.

'Please tell me that's not who I think it is.' He pleaded with Cyborg, who was staring over the top of his head at the screen.

Cyborg simply nodded, looking like he was trying not to burst into hysterical laughter, a few chuckles slipping through.

Charly turned slowly, very slowly, to view the glaring face of Batman and the slightly amused face of Superman projected onto the gigantic screen.

'So this is the seventh Titan?' The Dark Knight spoke in a more gravelly tone than his super powered colleague, it was slightly more intimidating.

Charly wasn't one to give in to intimidation, however. Especially not from his hiding place behind the sofa, which he had dived into as soon as he saw the 'S' symbol of one figure and the bat silhouette on the other.

'I was expecting someone bigger.' Superman chuckled.

**End Chapter**

**So, yeah. It really wasn't the best time but hey, that's life.**

**The JL contacting, why? We'll see.**

**Apropos, I can't handle the temptation and I'll soon be starting a sort of sequel, no not sequel - spin-off involving everyone's favourite storyline: Titans go to school!**

**It'll be a sort of A-AU (obviously still involving Charly), simply because I can think of things that would go well in it.**

**Reamis, out.**


	23. Packing or not

**Chapter 23**

**So far you've all been fantastic with the reading, not so great with the reviewing (excluding of course P.A.L.) But I don't mind, about 6 people have this on their favourite list and I get like 2000 hits a week or something stupidly large.**

**Onwards! To a better future!**

Last time:

Charly turned slowly, very slowly, to view the glaring face of Batman and the slightly amused face of Superman projected onto the gigantic screen.

'So this is the seventh Titan?' The Dark Knight spoke in a more gravelly tone than his super powered colleague, it was slightly more intimidating.

Charly wasn't one to give in to intimidation, however. Especially not from his hiding place behind the sofa, which he had dived into as soon as he saw the 'S' symbol of one figure and the bat silhouette on the other.

'I was expecting someone bigger.' Superman chuckled.

---------------------------------------

The present:

Charly's eyebrow raised a fraction, not enough to be disrespectful but enough to let the insanely powerful man on the screen know he took exception.

'I think you made him mad.' Batman's voice contained a little amusement now, his face however showed nothing.

Superman looked at what Charly presumed was another screen below the one he was no doubt projected on for the whole Justice League to see. He began to get a little self conscious and was about to adjust his hair when the door opened and the rest of the team entered, Robin at the fore.

He greeted Superman with the utmost respect then glanced at his former partner, or rather mentor.

'Something wrong? You never call here.' He looked puzzled and more than a little worried.

Batman, though his physical appearance didn't change at all, seemed to lighten up a little when he address his old charge.

'Nothing on our end, but we were curious about something. Have you found it yet?' He addressed the question to Superman, who was now typing slowly, as though looking for something on the other screen.

'Got it, care to explain this?' Superman tapped a button and an image opened within the other, a shot of a city street. A Jump City street. There also happened to be something happening on it.

'This is one for the new kid.' Superman spoke as he zoomed in a little.

The street was indeed filled with people, identical black and bronze people. Slade Bots.

At the other end of the street was a group of eight familiar people in a familiar formation.

'That's a bit early, Supes.' The Flash had appeared on the screen now, behind Batman. He flashed a bright smile and waved at the Titans, who hesitantly waved back. They were captivated by the video clip.

Superman was fast forwarding until he got to a point where one figure was lying on the ground, cradled in another's arms.

'I can guess where this is going.' Charly sighed suddenly. He fought the urge to turn away and continued to watch the scene which looked very strange but no less emotional when played without sound.

'Now, we know what happened here.' Superman pointed to the screen which now showed a paused image of Sam just before her power overdose.

He ran on the clip a bit to the point where Charly had just told the Titans to leave. The top down view was quite strange but they watched as the jet of flame leapt from the pyrokinetic's mouth and they watched themselves flee the scene.

For a while it looked like nothing was happening, but this was the point where Charly was addressing the robots, or rather their murderous master.

The Titans were all surprised when they expected the explosion to occur. All that happened on the camera was a blinding white light and then static.

The video clip vanished and the original seven members of the League were now on the screen, a few auxiliary members could be seen in the background.

'You knocked one of our cameras out. Along with a few consoles and the lights.' Batman didn't look pleased at all, shifting slightly. It was the only time he had actually moved besides his mouth.

Charly shrugged, he was used to his powers wrecking electrical equipment, even such powerful equipment as was available to the Justice League. The other Titans seemed nonplussed also, many shrugging in rhythm with their British friend.

'We only just got them back online. We were also not above Jump City or even America when it happened, this video was captured by a remote camera.' Superman explained.

As he said this everyone person in the tower turned to look in awe at their now very self conscious friend.

They had known his display of power (and control) had been spectacular, they had no idea however, that it could disable a high-tech space station from the other side of the world.

Charly finally realised why the League had decided it was time to contact them, he hadn't thought about what effect his blast would have (aside from making sure it effected no buildings or civilians) and to learn that it had very nearly put the Justice League out of business from so far away was a little more than sobering. In fact it was a kick in the pants.

'So what did you want again?' He asked in a slightly more cocky tone than he intended.

'We wanted to know if you were a threat.' Batman, always to the point, Charly noted.

'Forgive him, he doesn't like anyone getting smart with him.' Wonder Woman was now addressing the blushing Brit. Terra took note of the shade of his skin and tutted loudly.

Charly was in it a bit too deep now anyway, better to keep up the flippant act now instead of doing a U-turn.

'I'm not a threat to you or anyone, not unless they broke the law. Now if you're done giving me a bird's-eye view of my painful memories we've a public appearance to prepare for.' He addressed the last point to Superman and Batman, both of whom looked displeased, although Charly could feel the respect pouring off them.

'Brave kid.' Flash said under his breath. Too bad it was a very loud breath and everyone heard it.

'Robin, are you even the slightest bit worried?' Batman seemed to be clutching at straws here, having been beaten.

'Not really. As you'll no doubt know already no civilians or even any buildings were harmed in the blast. In fact I was quite impressed.' Robin crossed his arms defiantly, fighting not to shrink under the withering stare his mentor was shooting at him.

'Well, I'm satisfied,' Superman began, 'Just try not to do anything like that again, I'd hate to see what would happen if someone you were really close to were harmed.' He shot a smile at the Titans, only to notice that Charly had turned to look at Terra, as he turned back there was no smile on his face.

'I assure you, Superman, there would be very little planet left to worry about.' With that Superman simply signed off, not really wanting to discuss that point, the giant screen blanking out once again.

'What time is it?' Beast Boy asked, before realising he was wearing a watch. He glanced at it and answered his own question with a whistle and declared; 'Wow, it's half past midnight. I'm going to bed.' With that he sauntered out.

-------------------------------------------------

Charly's eyes flickered open to bright sunlight and a cacophony of birdsong (some of which was generated by Beast Boy before he promptly returned to bed.)

He groaned a little as his stiff neck cracked and was startled when whatever he had draped his arm over moved.

Terra shifted back a little in her half-sleep daze and snuggled herself closer to Charly, who finally realised where he was. He himself moved a little so as to be closer to Terra and encircled her with his free arm properly.

'_Fates, but her hair smells good.'_ He thought to himself, shaking a few of his lazy aspects awake. They grumbled and moaned but now he was awake they had to be too.

'Hey, Charly, you in there?' Cyborg's muffled voice from the other side of the door sounded to the recently awakened boy as though he were right next to him. Yelling. Into a megaphone. Or twelve.

'Yeah…' He forced himself to let go of Terra and sit up on the edge of the bed, still groggy with sleep he cracked his spine with a good stretch and stood, 'Yeah, I'm here.'

Quickly throwing on his shirt from the night before (being the lazy sod he is he had fallen asleep with his pants on) and shaking his head so he didn't look like he had a comb-over, he moved to the door and opened it slightly.

'What is it?' He rubbed his eyes a little and glared at the mech man.

Cyborg stretched his neck up and to the side slightly, using his height to see over the boy in the door.

'Aw, how cute.' He commented, upon spotting Terra still sleeping soundly.

'Is that all you wanted?' Charly asked, irately, grabbing the half-robot's head and bringing it back to the level of his eyes.

'Actually no.' Cyborg tried to rid himself of the smile on his face. 'Robin wants to talk to you, I think it's about the 'arade pay'. But it's not urgent, so don't rush yourself.' With that he set off back toward the common room and the TV.

'Charly?' Terra's voice, still a little think from sleep, sounded confused as to where the comforting warmth of her boyfriend had gone.

'Good morning, sunshine.' He closed the door and moved back to the bed, retaking his original position after throwing his shirt back on the floor.

After a minute or so he got back up, with a very heavy sigh, and put his shirt back on.

'No, no, no. Can't go back to bed, need to speak to Robin. Then I can come back.' He said, really only to himself.

'What if I get up before you get back?' Terra teased him, turning over to face him.

'Then I'll find you and bring you back here. By force if necessary.' He smiled Charming Smile No.1 and leaned over the bed to pull her into a deep embrace.

'You wont need to resort to force, I'd come of my own free will. The team'll never let us just leave though.' She looked genuinely disheartened by that fact.

'We can sneak off. They wont even know.' Charly kissed her and moved back to the centre of the room to look out of the window.

He suddenly realised what they were discussing, proposing and basically agreeing to. He decided to mention it.

'You know, we're talking about ignoring our friends and our duty to the city just for the chance to stay in bed together all day.' He grinned at the thought of his pre-emptive disregard of the fact that there are _always_ bad-guys. Especially when you don't want there to be.

'Yeah, but I think it would be worth it. Just once.' Terra looked thoughtful.

'Yeah, I guess it would. Tell you what, one day this week, no matter what happens, we will _not_ leave the bed.' He promised with another grin. 'I gotta go see Robin. So see you in a bit.' With that he marched to the door quite quickly, as though having to force himself not to stay.

'Yeah.' Terra replied, simply, getting up to grab her own removed attire. **(Don't get gross on me guys, that's not what I meant.)**

-------------------------------------------------

Strolling nonchalantly into the room Robin had taken as an office of sorts, Charly glanced around.

The walls were still covered in all manner of Slade related things and whilst anyone else would think Robin's obsession was unhealthy (well, it was really) Charly understood. A mad-man threatened his friends, his city and everything he had worked for. Switching into psycho-analysis mode Charly also deduced that a certain selfishness was involved, Slade threatened Robin's chance to 'go it alone', to lead his own team instead of being in the shadow of a far greater legend.

He wondered what he would do in Robin's position. He didn't have to wonder really, the threat to his life (in a figurative sense) had played out to it's extremities and he knew the reaction he had had. It wasn't pleasant and he suspected Robin would react in much the same way.

'Ok, Robin, what is it?' He smiled at the black-haired teen behind the desk.

'It's about our upcoming 'public appearance' I want to know something.' Robin gave nothing away in his opening sentence.

'What do you want to know?' Charly was easily tired by this song and dance, but kept going. He was in no mood to get angry.

'I really don't know any other way to put this, so…,' he took a deep breath as though preparing for a particularly high dive, 'Are you going to be civil while we're there?' Robin flinched a very small amount, as though he could only just fight the urge to cower into his chair.

'Civil? Oh sure. It's not like I'm going to be an ass in public.' He looked quite happy.

Robin sighed in relief, a little too soon it seems.

'No, I'll save the arsiness for when we're out of the public eye, and how sweet it will be. So is that all you wanted?' He was still smiling sweetly, though the gleam in his eyes suggested he would soon be raiding Beast Boy's 'Box O' Pranks'.

'No, except to ask you if you're ready, because we're setting off early tomorrow morning.' Robin pointed to the corner, where a small suitcase sat on its wheels.

'Right, packed, yeah, I've done that. Did it last night because I had nothing else to do, certainly not spending the whole night with Terra.' Charly coughed and scratched the back of his head, eyes darting around the room suspiciously.

Robin simply 'hmm'ed and sent him on his way. His way being a sprint back to his own room and the start of a frantic packing spree.

After about five minutes of trying to decide which T-shirt he should wear under his red shirt ('My dad can beat up your dad' or 'Play with the fire etc…') he realised there was no reason to be rushing at all.

He stopped time and lounged around his room, grabbing his clothes at a leisurely pace, he then went to the kitchen and made a sandwich. On his way back he decided to mess with the other Titans.

On the roof he found the frozen forms of Cyborg and Beast Boy playing basketball, the ball way just about to fall through the hoop and Cyborg looked happy. That was about to change, as Charly moved the ball so it was above Cyborg's head and placed the hoop at the other side of the roof.

'That'll freak 'em out.' He said out loud. 'Now, what was I doing? Oh yeah.'

He returned to his room and finished filling his small bag to take to Metropolis then restarted time again. What he wouldn't have given to see the look on Cy's face at that moment.

------------------------------------------------------------

'So the artists at the local newspaper occasionally release an underground comic.' Robin explained to Charly as they walked through the city. (Beast Boy had bought a new videogame and Cyborg was playing, or rather beating him at it. So Starfire had dragged all the girls to the mall and the remaining two needed to escape somehow.)

'Why have I never seen this?' Charly asked himself, quite loudly.

'Well,' Robin replied, 'They only put copies in the darkest and most secluded places in the city, coffee shops in back alleys, y'know? Raven's kind of place.' He explained.

'Right. So we're in it?' Charly was still baffled by the notion, the newspaper ran enough comics of the Titans already, single panel things that depicted a recent mishap or triumph in typical comic style.

'We're sort of the main attraction, they've taken our personas and developed whole storylines around them. Including some strange shipping.' Robin was explaining.

'Shipping?' Charly was confused by the strange term.

'It's short for relation-shippers, basically they write us into relationships. It's all very stupid.' Robin steered away from the conversation into a different one.

'Metropolis then, ever been there?' He asked the pyrokinetic, who had somehow managed to get a dove to land on his arm.

'Once, but it wasn't a great time. Superman was fighting someone or another and I almost got flattened by some falling masonry. I doubt he remembers that though.' Charly stroked the pure white bird that he had attracted.

They walked a little more, being careful to avoid densely populated areas so as not to be mobbed until finally Robin checked his watch.

'We should get back, I want everyone to get an early night so we don't have to drag people to the car.' He set off back toward the tower.

'Sure.' Charly was still preoccupied by the bird, which had hopped up to his shoulder and didn't seem to be leaving. 'Erm… I don't think the guys would let me take you to the tower. Tell you what, you live someone outside or even on the tower and I'll take you with me when we go out somewhere. How does that sound?' He was talking to a dove and as such he felt a little stupid. That was until the bird cooed what sounded like an affirmative answer.

'Ok, that's weird.' With that he set off after Robin.

--------------------------------------------------------

It was now 10:30 and it seems the Titans had practically wasted a day doing nothing at all, but now Robin was getting adamant that everyone needed to get some sleep.

'I'm a little tired anyway.' Cyborg admitted. 'See you tomorrow y'all.'

As though that was the trigger word for some odd hypnotism everyone else got up without a word and moved to their rooms for a good night. Hey, if Cyborg was tired then the rest of them didn't stand a chance.

'Tomorrow to Metropolis!' Charly sighed as he shut off the lights in the common room.

**Chapter end.**

**Thanks for reading guys. As you can guess, the next chapter will be in Metropolis so who knows what adventures that will bring. I certainly don't, but it'll come to me.**

**Reamis, out.**


	24. Metropolis

**Chapter…erm…Seriously, I've lost track. 24? I don't know.**

**I was going to skip over the trip to Metropolis but instead I'm going to chuck a bit of it in there. (by the way, stories play out in my head even if I don't write them. Usually in dreams or fleeting daydreams. If there's a good bit I put it in, which is why I can know what happened on the way to Metropolis but not write it.)**

**Anyway:**

Because not everyone can fit into the T-car at once the Titans had managed to get hold of a minivan, albeit a tricked out minivan with all the mod cons, including an enormous sound system, much to the distaste of anyone who didn't enjoy rap, rock, R 'n' B or cosmic ambient music. (Cyborg was driving and Charly had called shotgun before Beast Boy had chance.)

'Isn't Metropolis really far away from here?' Beast Boy whined for the fifth time. 'We're not driving all the way there are we?'

Charly flipped down the shade so as to glance in the mirror at everyone in the back.

'It's not that far,' he reassured, 'I walked from there to here and it only took me about a day.'

Everyone gave him a questioning eye; they knew him too well by now so no-one had to actually ask the question.

'Alright, I was at about eight times normal speed.' He lowered himself into the seat huffily.

In truth it only took about three hours, what with Cyborg's insane driving. He likes to be on time.

'So, this is our hotel? Huh, here I was expecting the old-timer to put us up in stylish digs.' Charly stared up at the immaculate building, the most expensive hotel in Metropolis, and as such almost the entire world.

'Lacklustre irony aside, I think it's about time we checked in. This bag is breaking my arm.' Raven looked around at her confused friends, 'What? I'm not that strong.' She defended.

Upon entering the lobby they were immediately recognised by the girl who sat filing her nails behind the front desk, who practically threw their room keys at them after naming them all loudly.

'Good old Bruce', as Charly had taken to saying and was quickly adopted by Beast Boy and then Terra, had paid for an individual room for each of them (under a false name, obviously), though they were all adjacent (three one side of the hallway, four the other) and had connecting doors. Strangely nobody seemed to mind this fact.

On the way up to the rooms something dawned on Beast Boy and he decided it was actually worthwhile to mention it.

'Aren't people in Metropolis going to be pissed that they sent us, from a different city, to be in their parade?' He asked as the stalked the halls to their rooms.

A nearby cleaner heard this question and stopped whatever task she was doing that required a cloth and some foul smelling spray.

'Actually, dearie,' She began, in a strong cockney accent, 'You Titans are very popular in the city now that Superman is not exclusively Metropolis' hero. My nephew never stops talking about you, it's very sweet.'

The Titans all nodded and, leaving the woman to dither to herself, set off for their own rooms before they went out for a bite to eat.

--------------------------------------------------

'_Just a small town girl, living in a lonely world. Just a city boy, born and raised in…'_

'…South Detroit.' Terra finished Charly's thought-singing, a little off key but just enough to make him smile.

'How did you know I was thinking that?' He asked her, throwing an arm over her shoulder, genuinely confused.

'You were singing it out loud. Very quietly.' She smiled; she always loved the fact he didn't know he was singing. That and his voice was beautiful. She leaned into him a little more so as to feel the music as well as hear it.

They were on their way to a restaurant that was supposed to be very highly rated, hey, they weren't paying so why not?

The streets were all but deserted, a few people straggled past, on their way back home or simply changing locations but aside from that it was quiet. Surprisingly quiet for a city of such size.

'You stopped.' Terra pointed out as the pleasing rumbling stopped abruptly.

'Something's not right.' His voice had taken on an ominous edge and he had stopped walking altogether.

He had felt something tugging at his mind ever since he got to the city and it just became more insistent. Though only for a split second, he could feel that something was awry.

For a moment the whole team simply stood on the street, all looking a little apprehensive. For good reason too, it wasn't often their friend was wrong, like the time he had simply dived out of a window because he sensed Raven was coming. With the torn book she found just outside her room, with a note reading 'Sorry, BB.'.

'It's passed.' He said just as abruptly and started walking again. Robin's wasn't the only audible sigh of relief.

The restaurant was only a block away when Charly slipped back into his relaxed frame of mind, finally letting go of some energy he had stored when he stopped.

'Did it just get warmer?' Terra asked, out of the blue.

'You looked cold.' Charly replied, looking down at her. Even in the neon glow of streetlights she looked beautiful.

----------------------------------------------------------

A near perfect silver fork clattered to a once pristine white plate and a satisfied sigh issued from the masked person sat in front of it.

'So…' Robin seemed to be trying to change the subject; Starfire had been talking to Charly about British food for twenty minutes. She was particularly fascinated by 'black pudding'. **(Fates, our food sucks.)**

**Flashback **

'_So it is not pudding in the sense I have come to understand?' She leaned in, transfixed on the description of this new delicacy._

'_No, it's more savoury than sweet. Also,' He glanced at Beast Boy, 'You would hate it. It's made from congealed pig's blood.' _

_A spray of soda was the answer he received, followed by a retching noise._

_Starfire still seemed enthralled, a wide smile plastering itself over her face._

**End **

'Exactly what was it you felt earlier?' Robin asked Charly, who glanced up from where he was making little flame versions of himself and Terra dance.

'Just a…wrongness, you know? Similar to the one from the window incident,' He somehow managed to gesture towards his sister with an eyebrow twitch, 'but less immediate.'

'Anything in particular?' Robin was in crime fighter mode at the moment.

'Nothing, but surely this city is League jurisdiction?' Charly was in no mood to be a vigilante tonight. Also, Robin had ruined his dance, granted he wasn't actually moving, but the spectacle was nice.

'Any crime is our jurisdiction.' He shot, a little annoy at that kind of flippant attitude.

Charly nodded and tried to resume his little show, unfortunately he had lost his step and eventually stopped trying.

'I think we all need a bit of rest.' Cyborg piped up suddenly, stifling a huge yawn. 'Tomorrow's important, if not for us then for the citizens of Metropolis.'

Now the suggestion had been raised everyone finally admitted how tired they were and it was agreed they would get an early night.

'Night everyone.' Charly made a show of going into his room after a round of goodnights.

He hopped onto his bed, noticing how amazingly comfy it was.

'Sleep! Now!' Lazy shouted inside his head.

'_No! Terra's expecting me.'_ He scolded.

'Oooh!' Almost every occupant of his mind cooed at once.

He sighed, flopping back onto the pillows and began to search through the energy of his friends. Three were already asleep, one seemed to be but he wasn't sure. He narrowed the search and found Terra's energy, still awake but only just.

'Oh screw it, just be very quiet.' He whispered to himself, getting off the bed.

He crept over to the connecting door and opened it, using a little flame to open the latch.

Unfortunately he'd have to do a lot of creeping; the room layout was a little more than annoying. It went like so, from one end of the hall to the other: Charly then Raven then Terra then Beast Boy.

Remembering this fact Charly threw on a few more articles of clothing, what would happen if Raven woke to find him creeping across her room practically naked? Nothing good, that's what.

He slid silently through the door into the pitch black of the dark girl's room and began his slow crossing to the connecting door that would take him to Terra. He actually managed to get about halfway without incidence, but he was a little too confident and met with a creaking floorboard.

Raven turned in her sleep and mumbled something but she didn't wake.

'Good a reason as any to sigh with relief.' Wisdom prompted movement from his frozen host. Charly did just that.

He finally made it to the door and reached his hand to the handle when it turned on it's own, he simply froze again, all his training hadn't prepared him for this kind of thing.

He almost laughed with relief, then, when he met Beast Boy when the door finally opened.

'Oh thank Fates it's you!' Charly hissed, 'I thought it might be…' He stopped, he had no idea who he thought it was.

'Oh,' Beast Boy's voice was almost inaudible, 'Well I'm just…going…' He trailed off lamely.

'Wait,' Charly's eyebrow moved up a fraction, 'did you just creep across Terra's room? What a coincidence, I just crept across Raven's room to get…to…Terra's…'.

Something fell into place.

'You're creeping into Raven's room in the night? Oh my god!' Charly almost fainted, his eyes flicking from the embarrassed green boy in front of him to his sister's sleeping form and back rapidly.

'You…you're…I…' He tried to articulate.

'I can explain.' Beast Boy began.

'No!' Charly clamped his hands over his ears and screwed his eyes shut, 'Don't want to know what you do to my sister! La la la la…' He continued like that for some time, as Beast Boy moved him into the room he had just left and took his place on the other side of the door.

He gave a sly grin.

'Have a good night, I'm sure I will.'

Charly's face froze in horror and he remained unable to move until the closing door had blocked the smug green face entirely.

He shook his head to forget what just happened and moved to the bed, where Terra was just on the brink of sleep. Sliding in, he wrapped his arms around her and planted a kiss on the back of her neck.

---------------------------------------------------------

Charly watched the giant bus-fish cycle past with little amusement, after all, the gorilla that had stolen his wallet was in fact the president of Cuba-Stan so nothing could be done.

A man who looked vaguely like Robin in Starfire's outfit and covered with Cyborg's mechanical upgrades wandered over to him and opened his mouth, which emitted some form of odd ringing sound, like a telephone.

Charly's eyes snapped open and he shielded them from the sunlight streaming through a gap in the curtains.

Grabbing the receiver of the ringing phone next to his head he let go of Terra and turned into a more comfortable position to answer it.

'Yeah?' He groaned into the phone, rubbing his eyes.

'This is Miss. Terra's wake up call,' A voice told him, 'Wait a second…you're not Miss. Terra.' The woman had obviously noticed that his voice was in fact not female.

'_Damn, rumbled, get out of this quick C!'_ Someone shouted in his head.

'Erm… Yes I am.' He tried.

'_Great, I live in an idiot's head.'_ The sarcastic voice was getting annoying.

'You're that British one, Spitfire, aren't you? I can't wait to tell everyone about this!' The excitable wake-up call woman shouted.

Charly's response was a high-pitched yelp and slamming the phone down.

'What is it?' Terra had woken up, probably at the girly scream.

'I really have to go, I answered your wake up call and I think the woman on the desk was selling her version of the story as soon as she heard my voice.' He leapt from the bed and threw his shirt on, dashing for the door whilst in the process of stopping the relative temporal dimension.

No easy feat when you just woke up.

He didn't stop running until he got to the connecting door of his own room, at which point he decided to turn around for a second. The sight that greeted him was a little surprising.

Beast Boy, shirt off, sitting on the side of Raven's bed holding the phone receiver, a look of abject horror on his face. Seems something similar had just happened in this room too.

Having finally re-started time again, Charly fell onto the bed and listened for the telltale sound from next-door. A high-pitched shriek and a loud thud followed by scrabbling and running footsteps told him that the exact same thing had happened to the green boy. He wandered if the two people who made the calls would sell the story together or each sell their own.

One thing was certain, tomorrow's Daily Planet would not be a good issue for the Titans.

------------------------------------------------------

'Today's issue of the Daily Planet…' Robin began, as Charly entered the large restaurant of the hotel, which had been set up for breakfast, twenty minutes later, '…is not a good issue for us.' He slammed the paper onto the table, open to page four where the headline read 'Titans in room-sharing scandal'.

'How did they get that out so fast?' Was Charly's only concern. Well, not his only concern.

He read some of the article out loud.

'While this reporter usually favours more serious news, I can't help but take a personal interest in this story…doesn't really give a reason…some stuff about knowing we were a 'likely bunch'…a phrase he no doubt learned from television.' Charly slammed the paper down with a little more power than he intended, leaving a charred hand-print on the page.

He began to storm out, but was called by Starfire.

'Where are you going? Do you not wish to break your fast with us?' She asked him, offering a piece of toast.

'Thanks, Star, but I have to see this reporter,' He pointed at the paper, 'I'm going to 'talk' to him, I'll give this Clark Kent a piece of my mind and something to really write about.' He flexed his hand into a fist, from which a small spark erupted, then he turned and stomped out.

The other Titans looked at each other for a moment, perplexed and perhaps a little worried.

'Should we go after him?' Beast Boy asked, concerned for someone's safety, though not necessarily Clark Kent's.

'Let him find out on his own.' Raven put in, dropping the crust of the toast she was nibbling.

**So that's 24, hope you liked it.**

**I'd like to take this moment to apologise for the latency of the piece, but I'm afraid this sized a gap may become a regular thing. I've had a lot of coursework to do and I only just finished my media-studies practical film thing which we started 4 months ago. Or so.**

**Hell, if I could give this in for my English GCSE I'd get an A instantly. Too bad they won't accept fan-fiction (and I wouldn't admit to writing it to any of my friends, bar one, or even a complete stranger)**

**So, chapter 25 promises action and a parade, so everyone wins.**

**Also, to save you guys from doing it: OMG HE DID BBxRAE! Yes, I did.**

**Reamis (who's in a better mood than usual, it must be said), out.**


	25. Parade

**Here's 25, damn, quarter century already!**

**Something's changed; I originally started writing this because I felt like writing, then I guess I kind of…fell off…mentally. I took a backseat in my own life, disassociation, which is bad for the mind.**

**But now I'm writing because I like to, it relaxes me and I generally feel better while doing it. But I've been feeling a lot better recently anyway.**

**Enough of my angst, you want some stories from the world of the Titans (well, the AU world, at least)**

**Go!**

Last time:

Upon arriving in Metropolis, Charly begins to get the feeling something's not quite right. After that he spent the night with Terra in her hotel room (after a brief and disturbing midnight meeting with Beast Boy) and answered her wakeup call in the morning by accident.

The story was sold and printed that very morning, thus Charly vowed vengeance on the journalist who apparently 'took personal interest' in the story, one Clark Kent.

We join him after he stormed out of breakfast to have a 'talk' with the writer.

Chapter 25:

Charly slammed his feet down on the sidewalk as he walked, each step closer to the Daily Planet building made the burning anger and humiliation just that little bit more unbearable.

'I can't believe some nobody reporter would just print that shit!' Rage was pacing inside his mind, he really was angry now. Despite his namesake he rarely cursed. (Two years ago he invented new words during his spout, having used all the real ones, but he had good reason.)

'_Let's not rip him apart the moment we step in the door, please.'_ Charly pleaded in thought, he actually wanted to talk to this Kent guy before resorting to violence.

He walked on, glaring at the windows of the great building he was headed for. He kept going until he heard footsteps rushing up behind him, he turned just in time to see the whole team skid to a stop and give him a sheepish grin.

'You guys spend too much time together.' He jibed, putting his hands in his pockets.

He studied them for a moment before asking his burning question.

'Why are you coming with me? To protect the reporter?' He let his eyebrow raise just enough to be noticeable; he'd perfected it to quite an art form now.

Robin gave him a plaintive look, 'We trust you more than that. We're just here to…watch.' He ended, his face breaking into a wide grin.

The grin was mimicked by each member of the team, including Terra, who had been clued in between Charly's exit and the Titan's own.

Charly merely shrugged and set off again to the newspaper building, the team in tow, a couple of members of which were trying very hard not to laugh.

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'Yeah, I'm looking for Clark Kent?' Charly said to the receptionist who, unlike everyone else in the city, seemed nonplussed by the Teen Titans standing in front of her desk.

'I'll call that up to him.' She picked up the phone next to her and punched a number. There was an audible click and she was off again, 'Clark? Yeah, Spitfire of the Titans is here to see you, I think it's about the article. Ok.' She placed the handset back down and gestured to the elevators. 'Go on up, sixth floor.'

'Thanks.' Charly tried charming smile No.3, which gained him a small smile in return. 'Never fails.' He said smugly as they headed to the elevator.

The doors slid closed and they discovered the elevators were incredibly slow, unfortunately this allowed Charly the time to notice Beast Boy occasionally glancing at Raven, and her very small smiles whenever she caught him.

The events of the night before came flooding back and he slapped his forehead.

'How could I forget?' He yelled at himself, causing every person in the elevator to stare at him, he turned to Beast Boy, 'You! You think I'd forgotten?' He gestured to the green boy then to his sister.

Beast Boy tried to step backwards but was stopped by something large and metallic. It was Cyborg, but it may as well have been the elevator wall.

'We haven't done anything I swear!' The quivering changeling defended, covering his head from attack. 'It's the same as you and Terra, harmless. Please don't melt me!' He was overreacting more than Charly thought he would.

'_Wait, maybe he's only pretending to be pathetic so…'_ He was cut off by Raven, who steeped between him and Beast Boy, hand raised, crackling with energy. _'Thought so, wily bast…'_ The elevator doors slid open, revealing the very richly furbished sixth floor of the Daily Planet building.

Charly stepped out and wandered over to a door that had 'C. Kent' written on it, knocked politely and waited for the 'Come on in' from a rather familiar voice.

He stepped through the door and spotted the reporter behind a desk, pouring over some story or another, occasionally adjusting the glasses perched on his nose.

'Typical nerd.' Bravery piped up.

Charly cleared his throat, causing Clark to lift his eyes and peer at him. There was something very familiar about this man.

'What can I do for you, Spitfire?' He asked, pushing his glasses back up his nose.

'I'm here about the story you printed this morning, somehow, about us.' He gestured at the rest of the team, who had entered.

He noticed a few of them were smiling and intercepted an almost imperceptible nod from Robin, which was returned almost instantly by Mr. Kent.

'Have you guys met before?' He asked them all, thoroughly confused.

'Once.' Clark stood, coming round the desk and offering a hand to Charly.

He clutched it and winced as the journalist gripped his own with almost superhuman strength. Similar to a Starfire hug but for the hand.

'What about the article then?' Clark leaned on his desk, looking very relaxed.

This annoyed Charly, he was used to scaring people when he was angry, this was a new experience for him.

'I wanted to inform you of how angry I am that you've decided to invade our privacy.' He replied calmly, not sure of where to take this, any normal person would be begging for forgiveness by now.

'Duly noted, I must say it's an interesting story none the less, even we didn't know until the call came this morning.' He checked his nails as he spoke, obviously being overly nonchalant.

'Wait, we?' Charly was beginning to think this might have been a bad idea.

'The League, we didn't know about you two,' He gestured at Terra and the very confused Charly, 'Or and definitely not those two.' He gestured towards Beast Boy and Raven.

'The…the League?' Charly had lost all of his nerve and it finally dawned on him where he had seen Clark Kent before. 'Oh crap, I rushed out on breakfast to threaten Superman? Oh man, I'm sorry Sir, I meant no offence.' He tried to back up but was stopped by the super-hand that was suddenly on his shoulder.

Superman was looking at him very sternly, as though about to give him a damn good thrashing, until his face broke into a wide smile.

'Nonsense, I thought it was brave of you to even complain about a story that annoyed you.' He let go of the terrified teen and moved back to the chair. 'There a few people in the League who wouldn't do that. Flash for example.'

'Hey!' A voice came from a small black box on the desk.

'They were listening to that?' Charly tried to drown out the laughing coming from both the box and his own team mates.

'Are you kidding? I though Bruce was actually going to laugh! I wish I could have seen your face when you realised.' Flash's voice yelled from the communication device.

'It was everything you could have hoped.' Cyborg gasped out between fits of uncontrollable laughter.

'You guys suck!' Charly raged, storming out, slamming the door behind him.

Robin was the first to stop laughing, looking concerned.

'Should we have done that to him today? I mean, we need him to be at least present if not civil at the parade later.' He asked everyone, which stopped them laughing.

'He'll shake it off, he always does, that's one of the things I love about him.' Terra explained.

'Me too.' Beast Boy piped in, '…Without the love part…I…Damn!' His attempt to save his throwaway comment had failed, causing a snort of laughter to erupt from the communicator, probably from the Flash.

He floundered for a while until Cyborg put his hand over the green teen's mouth (well, around his whole head) to shut him up.

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'Charly!' Terra ran up behind the British boy, who was now shuffling along with nowhere to go after his brief outburst.

'Hey.' He greeted her, throwing his cigarette to the ground, he knew she hated him smoking, though she had never mentioned it. He had picked up the habit on his travels and found that because of his powers his body was immune to all the harmful effects, so he kept going and became addicted.

'I'm sorry.' She started, lacing her fingers into his.

'For what? That? Nah, I'm over it.' He smiled a little for the first time that day.

'I told them you would be, but Robin's stressing about the parade later and whether you're going to even show up, let alone be polite and friendly.' She said quickly and probably in one breath.

'I've got to, I said I would.' They walked on for a while, Charly began humming an old folk song from his country of origin and they took in the sights and sounds of the enormous city.

'Fancy hopping to a rooftop somewhere? I'm getting bored of the ground.' Charly asked, pointing to a nearby building.

'Sure.' Terra pulled him into a side alley and lifted the two of them on a piece of concrete, floating over to the roof, where they sat on the edge and watched the people below.

'It looks almost unreal.' Terra's voice was filled with awe.

'Is all that we see and seem but a dream within a dream?' Charly quoted, almost to himself. 'Poe.' He explained in one word when he spotted the questioning look he had gotten.

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'…and here comes the one we've been waiting for, Jenny. The Teen Titans, here as a favour to Superman who couldn't be here today, all looking fabulous in the afternoon sun.' The man sat in what was apparently a commentary box above the festivities and addressed his colleague.

'That's right Steve, they're in what seems to be more flashy versions of their regular uniforms. Spitfire's heart apparently isn't into this though, he's simply standing at the back of the float with his arms crossed.' Jenny noted.

That he was, partly refusing to be friendly on the grounds that…well, he wasn't. Though mostly it was because he knew he looked fantastic when he was being moody.

'I don't know Jenny, we've come to expect that from the newest Titan and personally I think he looks wonderful the way he is.'

'I've always wondered about you, Steve.'

'That's right, Jenny.'

Robin walked over to where Charly was standing, surveying the crowd. This was not easy, as walking on a moving vehicle never is.

'Are you going to, say, move at all? Wave or something.' He gestured to the other Titans, all of whom (even Raven) seemed to be smiling whilst waving to people in the mass of civilians.

'Fine, but only because my legs have gone to sleep and I need to move them.' He grinned and stepped forward, raising his hand.

'Ah, there we go, Spitfire has finally decided, after some words from Robin, to be friendly.' Jenny was a little over-excited, it must be said.

'I admit even I was getting tired of watching him just stand there. He looks better when he's moving anyway.' Steve added.

'You're slightly in love with him, aren't you Steve?'

'You could say that, Jenny.'

'_Alright, so this isn't so bad.'_ Charly thought.

'Of course not, you love being the centre of attention.' Wisdom was being a little too snippy today.

Just as he was about to retort, Charly felt that telltale pull on his mind again, much stronger than before.

'Robin! Something's wrong.' He shouted to the leader, glancing around.

'What is it?' Robin asked.

At that moment a large explosion rocked the surrounding area, a building began to collapse, thankfully not near any civilians but someone might have been nearby.

Hundreds of what looked like robots began to swarm through the crowd, over floats and through side streets. They weren't Slade-bots though, they looked too primitive and lo-tech for that.

'I'd hazard a guess that it's that.' Charly pointed towards the swarm of robots before grabbing his jacket which he had placed over the back of the float.

'I knew this was going too smoothly.' He sighed, jumping to street level and taking formation behind the others.

**That was 25.**

**Thanks for reading it, dudes and dudettes.**

**This has been your host in the world inside my head.**

**Reamis, out.**


	26. Mockery

**Chapter 26**

**I know it's been a while and I apologise.**

**Last chapter: The Titans are attacked during the parade in Metropolis. Nobody saw that coming I'm sure.**

**Onwards! **

Charly slid his foot round in a wipe sweep, knocking the robot's chunky legs from under it, causing it to crash through a window into a display, rather ironically, of video games entitled 'Robot Destroyer (4)'.

'You know,' He yelled to his nearest team mate, Starfire, 'These guys look a little familiar.'

He allowed his fist to flare as he slowed time to half speed, allowing him to punch a hole clean through the chest of the familiar foe.

'I too believe I have seen these particular robots before.' Starfire destroyed a group with a couple of well placed star bolts.

Robin flicked the remains of the robot he was fighting towards another, causing both to explode before addressing the two chatting Titans.

'Could we focus, please?' He scalded, slamming his staff into the chest of another 'bot without looking., 'Although, they are quite familiar. They seem like they're old too; second-hand robots.'

Cyborg pulled the arms off a robot and watched as a giant boulder crushed it from above, flashing a grin at Terra he turned to the others.

'These are the same 'bots that Brother Blood used, the ones based on me.' He explained, allowing everyone to 'oh' in unison and then become confused by their inability to notice this.

Raven destroyed four robots with a bus before turning to the team as everyone else had done.

'But who's controlling them? Brother Blood was transferred to the high security wing of Arkham months ago.' Raven was still trying to get the stains out of one of her cloaks from the occasion.

'We're all aware of that, Rae, but cheers for the update.' Charly was behind a robot before anyone noticed he had moved and twisted it's head off.

He threw the head to the ground and glanced around, the bots seemingly having vanished, he scratched his head confusedly. He swept his head in a wide arc, searching for their outdated foes.

'Well, that's a bit strange, I mean where'd they go? I can't even sense them anymore.' Charly walked over to the other Titans, who were formed in a small group in the middle of the street. 'What did they want, they can't have just come to fight us then left. I was about to flex the old pyro muscles again.'

Beast Boy flashed him a questioning glance, 'You use your power constantly, you make toast with it every morning!' He confronted the British teen.

'I meant in a battle situation, I use it all the time to keep myself warm, or other people, right Terra?' Charly sought confirmation, having used his power for the very purposes of making sure she didn't get too cold.

When he got no answer he looked bemused. He did a quick scan of the team.

'Someone tell me she went to get coffee or something, please. Guys…Where is she?' He frantically looked around the empty streets until he noticed an image flashing on the chest of a downed robot. He walked over slowly, keeping his guard up. The image was in fact a screen upon which was an image Charly hoped he wouldn't see again, at least for a while.

'Ah, there you are, the rest of the Titans are where? Ah, I see.' Brother Blood's infuriating voice poured from the speakers either side of the screen like pus from a festering wound.

'Well, as you may have guessed, these were my robots that attacked you, but of course I have no control over them. I contacted the person who does, one Control Freak, and he performed my task in my stead.' Blood was stalling.

'Get to the point, Blood, if you've done something to Terra...' Charly began.

'Oh I assure you I haven't…yet,' Blood's face curled into a sadistic smile, 'She is currently being transported back to Jump City by my Cyborg-bots.' Blood chuckled a little, causing Charly to force back vomit which had leapt to his throat.

'Yes, I want you to come after her, I'll get a large reward for getting rid of the Titans, but you especially, you've pissed off some important people in your time.' Blood, gesturing to a computer on which an image of Terra, bound and unconscious, being carried by a flying robot, chuckled again.

'I'm sure you can find me, Spitfire, with the help of your friends. In the meantime, I'll keep myself entertained with your precious Terra.' Blood laughed maniacally and went to switch off the comm. Link.

'You sick BASTARD!' Charly slammed a fist through the screen, causing large gashes in his hand from the glass, he didn't notice. 'I'll rip him to pieces, I'll tear off his head and spit down his neck!'

Robin put his hand onto the enraged pyrokinetic's shoulder, to comfort him perhaps, but someone in Charly's mind was raging about how it was to restrain him. Which was probably true.

'Robin, we're going back to Jump. Now.' He turned to his leader, but his eyes weren't what he had expected. Instead of a flaming swirl of anger and forcefulness there was a pleading helplessness running through the vibrant red.

'Of course, we'll get back to the tower and start looking for Blood, it wont be hard to track him. We'll talk to Control Freak first.' Robin slammed a fist into his palm, determinedly.

'Talk to, hurt 'till he tells us, same thing.' Charly set off back to the hotel to collect Terra's things as well as his own.

'Spitfire, your hand…' Raven began, starting after her brother but before she had taken another step he was gone. 'Temporal powers.' She sighed, rather pointlessly.

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The journey back to Jump City and the tower had been only a few hours long, but to Charly it had lasted a lifetime and more and by the time the car had stopped he was sitting on white hot irons.

Leaping straight out of the seat, he ran as fast as he could to Ops, where he began pounding on keys, searching for Control Freak.

'Where are you? Come on.' He muttered to himself, angrily.

By the time the other Titans reached the room he was seething quietly to himself as his fingers skipped over the keys as though they were working independently of the rest of his body. They caught snatches of his ramblings, which made him sound a little deranged. They were under no illusion that, at least at this point, Rage was controlling him.

'Got you, you worm!' He slammed one last key and the coordinates locked on the screen were transmitted to Cyborg's car. He swung round to the others, the frantic look gone, replaced by a seething hatred of everything that breathed.

'We move. Now.' He growled in a voice a little too much like an angry lion to be at all natural.

Starfire, unable to control herself, whimpered slightly and stepped back a little.

'Suck it up, Princess. Let's go.' He swung round and began to leave the room, rather infuriatingly he couldn't hear the others following. He rounded on them. 'What? Why aren't you coming?'

'Because,' Robin began in his 'authoritative-but-comforting' voice, 'Even if we could get to him now, what good would we be? We haven't slept in two days.' As though to prove his point Starfire let out a huge yawn.

'You want me to SLEEP? You're as heartless as Blood. I'm going alone.' Charly turned to stomp out but was blocked by Cyborg.

'You need to rest man, sleep on it, most of all you need to _calm down_.' He put out a hand to rest on the pyrokinetic's shoulder, Charly jerked backwards and gave him a withering look.

'Charly, you aren't going anywhere. We'll see to this in the morning.' Robin tried to reason, his hand moving to his belt just in case.

After trying to articulate his argument through looks and frantic hand movements Charly relented, his head dropping to his chest and his hands hanging limp. 'Fine, you guys sleep but, all due respect, I don't think I could.' He looked up at Robin's face, which was in a sympathetic half smile.

'We'll find her, and Blood will pay, you can be sure of that.' The leader said quietly, turning to go, the others following to their respective rooms.

'Oh, he'll pay alright.' Charly stalked from the room into the common room.

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A loud bang startled Charly from his altered reality, he spun to see a figure hopping up and down clutching their foot. He snapped his fingers and lights sprung into life around the room.

'Trigon damn it to the seventh circle!' Raven cursed, hopping onto the counter and rubbing her stubbed toe.

'Nicely put, what are you doing?' Charly asked, he had calmed down slightly and was willing to listen to people. Anything that could take his mind of the situation.

'I was worried when I suddenly couldn't feel your sorrow and anger anymore, I thought maybe you'd…' She trailed off.

'Left to find Blood alone?' Charly prompted, slumping over and sitting on the floor with his back leaning on the sofa.

'Done something terrible to yourself.' Raven finished lamely, flashing him a look.

Charly chuckled a little, feeling a little feeling flooding back into his numb being, he gave her a smile which clearly said 'thank you for caring'.

'What good would I be then? I wouldn't do that when Terra's counting on me. On us. Now, that can't be the only reason you're up?' He probed a little, raising his eyebrows in a questioning look.

'Same reason you haven't slept. We have a link so what you feel, I feel, slightly weakened of course.' She confided.

Charly suddenly felt bad about the times he'd felt bad, inadvertently making his sister feel his pointless, trivial pain.

'Yeah, that kind of thing.' Raven stated bluntly, nudging him playfully with her foot.

'I'm sorry.' Charly shut out his emotions but it only lasted for a second, then his anxieties came flooding back.

'There's nothing you could do, but thank you for trying. It's just…' Raven searched for the words, 'I'm feeling what you're feeling now as though it was one of my own emotions. A particularly powerful one.' She searched his look for understanding, but felt she needed to expand. 'I couldn't possibly know what you're going through, but I know that it hurts more than anything I've ever felt.'

Charly again tried to shut off some of his emotion, to spare the dark girl from his pain. It again didn't work. Opening his eyes again he saw she was heading to the door. 'Raven!' He shouted after her.

She turned quickly, looking a little worried.

'Thanks.' He intoned, looking down.

'You should at least try to sleep, for your own sake.' She advised in a motherly tone.

'I'll try, again thanks.' Charly looked her straight in the eye, showing his sincerity.

'What's family for?' With that, Raven left for her own room.

Charly turned back to the window and leapt onto the couch, closing his eyes and trying to force sleep.

For minutes or hours he tried, time was a blur to him, and eventually fell into a fitful sleep, his dreams tormented by the face of Brother Blood, marked with deep scars which oozed blood and puss. His eyes changed colour, all of them sickening and his mouth was a twisted mockery of human features.

Laughing.

Laughing.

**This chapter's not as long as others. Sorry I haven't updated in a while, I'll explain in a note.**

**Thank you for reading this despite the delay, I'm really grateful, I think my next few chapters will be different and perhaps better, my writing has shifted in style and is now more flowing and poetic.**

**So thanks again.**

**Reamis, out.**


	27. Author's Apology

**I'd like to take this opportunity to apologise properly for leaving my update for so long.**

**This is my explanation:**

**I've had a lot of work to do for school. It's my final year of high school and as such I've had a ton of coursework to do in preparation for my GCSE's. I'm done now though, only one piece of English left, which isn't that important.**

**My 'rents were going mental about me doing a bit of work too, so I now have a job which takes my Monday nights and pretty much rapes them. It's fun though, and I get paid so no complaining here.**

**Aside from that I took a week off and went to Italy to ski with my school, which took another week I could have been writing and drop-kicked it off a high cliff.**

**So there you have it. Again, I'm sorry.**

**I look forward to your feedback on the next few chapters.**

**Hope you enjoy them.**

**Reamis.**


	28. Finality

**And we're back, And onwards to chapter 27, which is called chapter 28 on the site, but you know, whatever.**

**So, Terra has been captured by Brother Blood and Charly was in a blind rage. He calmed a little when he refused leave to go after her on his own and managed to drift off into a fitful sleep.**

**Onwards.**

Charly jerked his head up, only to have it slam into something large and titanium. Namely Cyborg's chest, the half-machine having been leaning over him, trying to wake him for a good ten minutes.

'I know they say you shouldn't wake people who are having nightmares but you were freaking us out. Even Raven looked disturbed.' Cyborg grinned a little, gesturing to the team who stood together. Starfire was hiding behind Robin's cloak, Beast Boy was wide eyed and Raven looked stoic, with a hint of worry.

Charly shook his head, his hair, which he hadn't cut since joining the Titans and was now quite long, flicking Cyborg in the face as he tried to rid himself of lingering demons from his sleep.

'Was I talking in my sleep?' He asked, groggily.

'Talking, mumbling, shouting, growling, screaming and a number of other things. One of which had me considering whether to lock you up in the holding cell in the basement.' Robin flashed him a smile.

Charly forced his own small grin but it felt strained. He hopped off the sofa and took in his surroundings.

'We're going to talk to Control Freak.' Beast Boy said, his face in an uncharacteristic scowl.

'Fantastic.' Charly muttered, an evil grin contorting his face for a split second. Fortunately it went unnoticed.

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Control Freak's obese form smashed through another crate in the warehouse he had taken as his hideout.

He struggled to rise, only to find a boot on the small of his back, keeping him on all fours.

'One of these boxes must have something sharp in it, what are the odds of them all being empty?' The sinister voice of the figure above him growled, a mocking tone in it.

'I told you everything, please don't hurt me!' The nerd pleaded, curling into a foetal position.

'Leave him alone Spitfire, he did tell us everything we wanted to know.' Robin pulled the British teen back from the cowering villain.

'And some things we didn't.' Raven intoned, shivering at some of the information that Spitfire had managed to extract from the pathetic creature in front of them.

Charly swept his head round to the team, his sadistic grin growing wider. He licked his lips and began to speak.

'I just want to watch him squirm some more. Please can I?' He asked Robin in a sickly sweet tone.

'Save it for Blood.' Robin said, turning to leave.

Upon hearing that name Charly lost control for a second, the far wall of the warehouse exploded in an inferno that could rival several bombs.

'Don't think I'll forget about you,' he spat at Control Freak, who had got up the courage to crawl away slowly, 'I might be back. Then again I might not. That's the part that's fun for me.' He let one bark of maniacal laughter take hold of him then swept from the warehouse.

When he reached the car the others were waiting for him, tapping in the coordinates that Control Freak had given. The virtual map showed the series of caves where Terra had once been entombed. It would have been funny in a darkly ironic way were it not so sick.

'We need to get there, we need to get there an hour ago.' Charly shot to Cyborg over the hood of the car.

'I'm right on that.' Cyborg fell into the seat and gunned the ignition. The car roared off in the direction of the cliffs.

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They were stood by a large metal blast door, contemplating a point of entry when Raven confronted her brother, strolling up to him and talking in a low voice. She did this a lot so she knew it wouldn't draw attention to them.

'I have a bad feeling about this Charly, it's not about Terra either.' She confided.

Charly looked up from the daisy he was holding and gave a small nod.

'I feel it too. It feels like something is going to… change, you know? I'm not worried, as long as we get Terra out I don't care what happens.' He gave a shrug and glanced at Robin, who shook his head, showing they hadn't found a covert method of entry. 'Guess we'll have to do it my way.' Charly focused his will and the huge door was suddenly standing twenty meters away, embedded in some rock, melting slightly around the edges.

'Because no-one will have heard that.' Raven sighed and moved to join the group.

Charly ran straight into the darkness without so much as a backward glance. The last they saw of him was a faint glow from his eyes, then he rounded a corner.

'He's going to get himself killed at this rate.' Robin sighed, moving in after him. The rest of the team followed, leaving Beast Boy and Raven at the back.

'You know, I think I understand what he's going through. If anyone took you away I'd probably do the same thing.' Beast Boy told her, staring forwards. He ran into the dark after the team, leaving Raven to contemplate the admittance.

----------------------------------------------------

Charly rounded another corner and slammed into another robot. It melted on contact, as had the others. He'd encountered many, and a couple of normal guys. Unfortunately the normal guys had guns.

'Gotta find her.' He muttered to himself, blasting a door into oblivion and searching with his mind. He brushed something with his powers that felt familiar. Very familiar. 'Found you! Don't worry, I'm coming.' He redoubled his efforts, taking out three more robots with a look and punching a guy in the throat, burning and crushing his windpipe, causing him to suffocate.

Charly rushed through corridors until he came to the final door, behind which he could sense Terra. A severely weakened Terra. He stood to wait for the other Titans, despite what he said, he would need their help to get out of this one.

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'I do not think I like this place, it is dark and there is an unpleasant smell.' Starfire pointed out. 'It is like burning and… something…' She couldn't place it.

'Hey, dudes, I found a light switch!' Beast Boy pressed the switch and instantly regretted it.

'That other smell, Star? Blood and burnt flesh.' Raven droned, trying to keep from retching.

They were stood in a large room filled with piles of broken and burnt machinery that was at some point a Cyborg-bot. The other contents of the room was far more grotesque; crumpled bodies lying in pools of their own blood, some burnt horribly, some simply ripped apart. There were no survivors.

'I do not wish it to be so, but I think we may have lost our friend.' Starfire whispered, as though scared of waking the armed guards from their eternal slumber. 'I fear he may have given in to his darker nature.'

All anyone could do was try not to vomit there and then and move on. They left the room and found that the corridors were little consolation.

Blood was making the floor slippery, smears of the life giving liquid lined the walls, some lines where a guard had slumped, others a few hand-prints then a large puddle on the floor underneath a body which had been killed trying to escape the wrath of the part demon that was attacking them. It was obviously a futile effort.

'I'm totally gonna puke. From fear as much as anything.' Beast Boy held his stomach at the sight of what their friend had done.

'We need to move.' Robin ordered, the scene was getting to him too.

------------------------------------------------

By the time they reached the door where Charly had been waiting he had gotten tired of standing around. As such the door was a melted pile of steel and the room beyond was strewn with bodies.

As the Titans stepped over the threshold they were startled by a guard nearby, he was crawling towards them, covered in terrible wounds and moaning for help.

'We couldn't do anything. Some of us even dropped our weapons but he just attacked anyway.' He groaned, trying to grab at Beast Boy's leg to keep himself up. 'The worst part is, he enjoyed it… He was laughing.' The guard had a coughing spasm which sprayed blood onto the floor then slumped into the puddle he had created.

They looked up at the room to see other guards dead or dying. They spotted Terra in some kind of wall rack/cage, she appeared to be unconscious.

In the middle of the room stood Charly, fire leaping from his form. He was breathing heavily, though probably not from exertion.

'Blood!' They heard a voice from all around them yell. 'Let her down. Now.' It commanded in a tone no sane person would disobey. Brother Blood was, however, quite insane, which he proved by chuckling at the teen.

'Certainly. If you can beat me.' He leapt from his seat and adopted a fighting stance.

Far from leaping in to attack, Charly simply laughed, which caught everyone, even Blood, completely off guard.

'Beat you?' The surrounding voice had taken on slight echoes now, as though many small creatures were whispering a repeat of everything he said at random intervals. 'How could you possibly stand against me? I won't beat you Blood. Oh no, that would be too good for you. I'm going to destroy you, tear you apart and bathe in your warm blood as it still flows from your wounds.'

Charly lifted his arms and a huge fire sprung up around the throne Blood had been sitting on not so long ago.

'Then I'll make sure it happens to you in hell for all eternity.' He ended with maniacal laughter that echoed around the room long after Charly's shoulders stopped moving.

Blood now looked a little worried, but surged forwards anyway, aiming a finger strike to the boy's chest.

Charly dodged it easily and slapped Blood across the face, grinning sadistically as his nail drew a red line across Blood's cheek which slowly oozed the dark red liquid that was his namesake.

Again the red-robed man attacked, only to be blocked and slashed.

This continued for some time, each attack by Brother Blood was blocked or dodged by the enraged pyrokinetic.

'I tire of this game.' Charly sighed, blocking another punch. The block this time burnt Blood severely and he withdrew, looking fearfully at his foe.

'It's time I got what I came for.' With that Charly was a blur of black and flame.

He punched Blood numerous times until every exposed part of him was bleeding to some degree. He grabbed the man's arm and pulled, breaking it in several places, causing Blood to emit an agonised scream. He began to burn the Brother all over his body through sheer will and when blood was finally writhing on the floor in pain Charly walked over to him, extinguishing the flames around his body.

'I'm going to make sure you don't hurt anyone again.' He said in a low voice.

'Get me medical attention before you put me in jail, you maniac.' Blood's voice was pleading and weak.

'Jail? Ha! You deserve more than I can administer, but I can certainly start the process.' He slammed his boot down on the head of the cowering man in front of him, cracking the skull and stood watching the blood and brain matter ooze onto the floor.

Laughing, he turned, only to see the Titans in the doorway, their expressions a mixture of fear, anger and disgust. This shocked Charly back to reality and he looked around.

'Where am I? Why are you looking at me like that?' He asked them, rubbing his eyes as though just awakened.

Robin gestured behind the confused boy, who turned to see the room full of bodies, and the horribly mangled form of Brother Blood at his feet. His stomach heaved and he fell to his knees, his vomit adding to the disgusting mess that was the ground.

He crawled away backwards, unable to take his eyes from the pile of flesh that had once been a man.

'I…D-did th-that? Oh God! Oh my God!' His head fell into his hands and tears came unbidden, flowing faster and stronger than ever in his life. 'I s-swore n-n-never again.' He turned to the team, who were now looking at him rather than the room. 'I couldn't help myself! I didn't even know I was doing it. Please!' He reached for Robin's boot, but it was jerked away.

He suddenly realised why he was there. 'Terra!' She was still in the cage/rack, which he melted the lock of and laid her gently on the floor back at the entrance to the room.

She slowly opened her eyes and looked around blearily. 'Charly?' Her weak voice brought tears to his eyes once more. Tears of joy.

'I'm here, love. Don't worry, I'm here.' He held her to him and let her presence calm his shattered being.

'I'm glad you came.' She was still out of it, but she held him in return, aware that he needed to be comforted.

'It's ok now, everything will be ok.' He assured her, though it may have been for himself.

He was about to say more when a loud bang echoed around the room. His eyes widened and he choked on his sentence. Holding Terra away from himself he saw blood soaking through his shirt. His own blood.

He looked behind him in time to see a not quite dead guard pull the trigger a second time, this bullet hitting him in the chest. The guard then slumped and sighed out his final breath.

Terra snapped out of her trance like state when she realised what had happened. Looking at the wounds herself and then holding Charly close to herself.

'It's fine, it'll be fine. They're not so bad, you can pull through it.' She said frantically, tears streaming down her cheeks.

The rest of the team looked on in stunned shock, the first to snap out of it being Starfire, who's eyes welled up.

'Please tell me our friend will be ok. Someone.' She pleaded with everyone.

'I'm afraid not Star. Terra, you will never know how much I love you, but if had the time I would show you.' Charly coughed a little, bringing up blood.

'No, don't talk like that!' Terra practically scolded him, hugging him tighter.

'Stop trying to control me, woman!' He joked, but his laugh turned into another cough.

Terra raised a small smile.

'There, I didn't want the last thing I saw to be you sad.' Charly grinned at her. 'Please don't be sad, we had a good run didn't we?' She couldn't be sure whether that was supposed to be a joke so reacted by holding him to her again.

By this time the other Titans had come back to the situation and Robin was trying to take charge.

'Cyborg, diagnostic.' He commanded, as though Charly was merely a broken computer.

'Punctured lung and heart. The other bullet just hit muscle, the first wouldn't have killed him, the second did.' Cyborg said grimly.

'Raven, can you do anything?' Robin demanded of her.

'Nothing, not that I wouldn't if I could. I can't help him at all.' A rare tear had formed in her eye as she told them of her helplessness.

Charly tried to calm everyone. 'Guys, there's nothing anyone can do. I knew the risks and I took them willingly for the girl I love. I succeeded, that's all that matters.'

Terra was having none of this. 'But now you're leaving me alone. This isn't fair. Nobody's won.' She was weeping openly now, tears splashing onto the face of the dying teen she held to her.

'You guys have been the closest thing to family I have. Thank you all.' Charly sighed, closing his eyes. He didn't breathe back in.

They had to drag Terra away from the body, Cyborg promising they would come back with a stretcher and not just leave him there.

As they reached the door, Cyborg supporting Terra, who was near hysterical and Raven leaning on Beast Boy, letting tears slide down her face silently. Starfire was clinging to a expressionless Robin, weeping softly.

They were about to turn a corner when they heard something.

'Now this is weird.' A familiar voice floated to them, causing Terra to spin.

'Charly?' She screamed. Spotting the still motionless body she thought perhaps it was a trick of her aggrieved mind, were it not for the other Titans staring expectantly at the corpse.

'Now, how do I move my arm?' Charly's voice floated from the unmoving body, causing the Titans to gasp. They gasped louder when a fiery arm lifted itself from the body of their friend.

'Ah, there!' The voice again.

Charly stood up. But this one was different, he was made entirely of flame and had stood up out of the body which remained on the floor.

'Whoa!' Was all it said, staring at it's own dead form on the ground. It looked up, it's features an exact replica of the dead Titan's but fashioned in flame. It spotted the Titans.

'Hello.' It said simply. Raising a hand in greeting.

Terra rushed towards the figure and tried to embrace it, only to move through it. There was no burning sensation, just a feeling of emptiness as she passed the point where it stood.

'I'm sorry Terra, I'm not corporeal. This form is a manifestation of my spirit. Though I'm not sure why it's still here.' The Fire-Charly told her, seeing the tears form once more.

'Are you going to stay with us?' She asked, tearfully hoping the answer would be yes.

'I would if I could, my Love. But I can feel myself waning even now. I think perhaps my final purpose was to tell you this: I love you, with all of my heart. I always will, no matter what happens. I love you.'

She stepped backwards, wiping a tear.

'I love you too.' She said simply.

'See ya round guys.' The spirit said to the team. It began fading away slightly, but not before addressing Terra again.

'Always.'

With that, the fiery spirit of their friend was gone.

Terra collapsed to the ground and wept.

…

**Believe it or not, that isn't the end. Keep hanging on and I'll put up the next chapter very soon. It's going to be a short one, but a good one. Trust me.**

**Thanks for your support guys. Keep the faith.  
**

**Reamis, out.**


	29. Bright lights and Uncertainty

**Told you guys, this chapter's gonna be a short one.**

**Onwards.**

'Charly.' A voice sounded through the darkness.

Charly opened his eyes to the pitch blackness. He tried to create a fire but found his powers had no effect.

'You cannot do that here, only if we choose to let you.' Another voice sounded.

'Who are you? Where am I?' Charly demanded.

'We aren't, and you aren't anywhere.' A third voice informed him.

The voices were not male or female, they were both and neither at once. He didn't hear them, yet he did. They were everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

They were not threatening in the least, but they contained a power that one would not argue with.

'I'm supposed to be dead, I remember saying goodbye to…erm…that person…those people… I…' He trailed off.

'Your memories will be returned, do not fret. We have brought you here to tell you that you aren't finished.' The first voice told him.

'I'm not 'finished'?' Charly asked, searching the darkness for the source of the voice.

'You will not see us, you could not behold us in our true forms even if you did.' The second voice informed.

'How so?' Charly challenged.

'Have you ever seen not only your entire universe but every universe you inhabit? Precisely.' The third voice carried a kind of humour in it.

'There is one where you are female. One where you are Robin himself.' The second voice informed him. 'One inhabited entirely by clones of you. There is one where you go by a pseudonym and post fan fiction about your favourite cartoon on the internet.'

'Pfft!' Charly let the derogatory laugh take him.

'Do not scoff, I'm quite partial to your stories. Especially one in which you basically write exactly what has already happened to y…' The third voice started.

'Stop it, do you want his brain to melt?' The second voice interrupted. 'He couldn't comprehend that.'

'So, about me not being 'Finished'?' Charly interrupted.

'Ah yes,' the first voice started again, 'basically, we're sending you back. In your original body, because you had a whole life ahead of you with the Titans and Terra.'

'I… Wow…Why do I get this?' Charly was stumped.

'Because,' the third voice started, 'we like you. I want to see how things end up for you.'

'That's really… unprecedented.' It was the only word he could think of.

'Quite so. Now hop to it. We'll give you your memories and body back on the journey. Bye now.' The first voice said.

Charly felt a pulling sensation on his chest and was thrust into bright light, still thoroughly confused.

**So there you have it.**

**Next chapter is the last one guys, I may do a sequel, may not, I'll see.**

**Thank you all for reading this. I appreciate it, really I do.**

**Reamis, out.**


	30. Closure

**Final Chapter, guys.**

**I've absolutely loved writing this, and I hope you've enjoyed reading it nearly as much.**

**By the by, I've decided I will be writing the sequel, so at least we've got that to look forward to.**

**Ah, well, all good things must come to an end, as they say.**

**Onwards.**

It had been two and a half months since Charly's funeral, the entire city had turned out or tuned in to pay respects to one of their protectors and a much loved public figure.

There were very few dry eyes at the actual burial, memories and praise were levelled on the deceased by a variety of speakers.

Over the next few weeks anecdotes about his antics and epic stories of his life were told, most greatly exaggerated, some totally made up. The only people who really knew him were the Titans, who had spent a whole day avoiding the tender subject, this left them with very little to talk about.

By now, they had begun to make their peace, having spent many a late evening talking about what could have compelled the spirit to stay. Would it have been possible to stop the gunman firing the second shot? What would they have done with him if it had? Was he himself or was he being controlled by the essence of Trigon when he killed Brother Blood?

They had moved into lighter conversation on the second evening, tired of speculating, it was time to share memories and experiences so they could lay his memory to rest at last. Starfire told them of the time just hours before Terra's resurrection when they had talked in the common room. They reminisced about when Sam had been a part of the team and the problems that had caused.

It was a night of laughter and tears and eventually the Titans had begun to let go. Though not entirely.

Terra could be seen for days simply staring out of the windows of the tower for hours on end, and if she wasn't there she was sat on the roof staring at the bay.

She had found his notebooks, all of them, the ones that were a common sight getting progressively rarer until she found his most secret book, the one entitled 'Dreams'.

He had been writing in it since he started travelling and most of the pages were filled with a random flickering of pointless nothingness, much like all dreams. There were a few relating to the titans from before they met, longings to be a part of the team mostly.

She had stumbled on a section in the dreams notebook subtitled 'Nightmares', it seemed as though he had only been writing in it since he met the Titans, most were to do with him causing some trouble for or physically harming the team.

Then there were the depressing accounts of his nightmares from after Terra's resurrection; one was a recurring dream about her leaving him in a 'grey and frightful wasteland that I assume is my mind's version of my life', as he had written.

It was these books that had helped her get through his death, far more than her friends, far more than simply trying to cope alone, which would have been too hard for her and she knew it. There was something of him in them that she could cling to, even if he was gone.

----------------------------------------------

'Hey BB, wanna try to beat the high score on 'Super Monkey Slam 67'?' Cyborg yelled across the room at the green Titan.

'I don't know Cy, the highest score is currently held by…' He trailed off, not wanting to say it.

The leader board on the screen showed the top score was held by one 'Cha'. Cyborg shut down the game hastily.

'He always complained about the three letter name system.' Robin reminisced from his seat at the kitchen counter. He was leaning over his newspaper in which he was scanning a story that didn't seem that interesting to anyone but him. He was still debating whether to tell the Titans or not.

Terra entered the room, followed by Raven and Starfire. Terra was carrying another of Charly's notebooks and was reading from it. Or rather finishing reading from it.

'…to continue over dark soil, the plagued wasteland, the endless abyss." Wow.' She concluded.

'That was dark, even for me.' Raven pointed out. Starfire simply nodded, not wanting to say anything for fear of ruining the mood.

Robin finally made up his mind, flicking back to the 'interesting' story he slammed it down on the counter and called the other Titans over.

'Look, it says here "The dark figure has been spotted a number of times, not only by Spitfire's grave but also several sightings have been reported at night, they say the figure is all but invisible save for the eyes, always staring towards Titan's Tower." Should we be worried that someone is taking an interest in not only the tower but also our friend's grave?' Robin sounded serious, looked serious too. If there was one thing he couldn't stand it was disrespect of those passed.

A visit to the grave was proposed, as a professional precaution, but also as part of a weekly ritual that the Titans adopted, so they headed to the garage and the T-car.

-------------------------------------------------------

As they walked into the graveyard Raven stopped suddenly, causing her friends to look back confusedly.

'I felt something… strange, something that doesn't belong but isn't threatening.' She explained.

Robin stepped towards her, a look of apprehension in his eyes, this kind of feeling had only led to heartache in the past.

'Nothing to worry about.' Raven concluded with a slight smile.

They set off again towards the back of the cemetery where there friend was buried. As they walked they passed a gardener, one who, for all intents and purposes, looked a little young for his job.

'If you're looking for your friend, you won't find him back there.' The gardener accosted them suddenly, without looking up.

They ignored him and continued to the grave.

'Did anyone else notice his accent was a little forced?' Beast Boy asked as they reached the site.

Nobody answered. They were preoccupied by the single lily someone had left on the cold earth.

The strangest thing about it was the paper wrapped around the stem.

Terra picked it up and read what was written on the note. She stopped as though she couldn't force herself to read anymore and handed it to Robin.

'"Hey guys, thought you'd come. I'll tell you what, looking at your own grave is bloody strange. C".' He ended, eyes wide in disbelief. 'How could someone play such a sick joke?' He yelled, throwing the lily back onto the grave and storming off.

The other Titans just stared at the grave for a while, glanced at each other and followed.

--------------------------------------------

'I dunno Robin, stranger things have happened.' Cyborg was reasoning with their leader.

'No, they haven't!' Robin was arguing his case that dead people do not come back.

This argument had been raging for a whole day after they had found the note on the grave. Cyborg was trying to argue Robin round, but the others were simply speculating as to who would do something like that.

That was until the mail came.

Robin again read out a strange note they had gotten with the other mail; 'Right, "Sorry I'm having to leave you notes, guys, but I've got stuff to sort out before I turn up. This probably seems really weird from your end. Trust me, it's weirder from mine. C" Oh man, these sickos just keep at it don't they?'

Robin collapsed into a chair and massaged the bridge of his nose. This was really getting to him.

Terra, on the other hand, had decided to totally reject these as a terrible prank by a bored teenager and they weren't getting to her as much as she thought they would.

'We should go out, clear our heads.' Cyborg suggested, everyone agreed and they set off to spend a day in the park.

------------------------------------------------

It was getting dark by the time they left the park, heading home after a game of football and a picnic of sorts.

They walked out onto the street where their car was parked and straight into a large group of people.

One very familiar looking teen practically shoulder-barged Raven out of the way and muttered a quick 'sorry' before moving off.

When she looked again the teen who walked into her wasn't there. The other Titans stopped and looked back.

'Something wrong, Rave?' Beast Boy asked, trying out the name as much as asking.

'I swore the kid who walked into me then was…but it can't have been. I'm just tired is all.' She set off again, strolling past Beast Boy and flashing him a smile. The name, it seems, was acceptable.

Back at the tower they were all in the common room again, this time simply watching the TV instead of talking about their friend.

The storm was really taking hold and a bolt of lighting shorted out the tower's power, causing a blackout. Just as Robin was about to light a flare multiple fireballs burst into life around the room, illuminating it.

'Must have been something he set up for whenever there was a power cut.' Robin sniffed.

'But surely he'd have to be alive for his powers to work?' Beast Boy was being rational for once.

Everyone simply shook their heads. That couldn't be the case.

'We just need to sleep is all.' Robin told them, setting off for his room.

----------------------------------------------------

The morning seemed particularly bright when Terra awoke, there seemed to be more…happiness in the air. That was the only way her mind could describe it.

She sat up and stretched, knocking an ornament she didn't know was there to the floor. She had taken to sleeping in his room every night since he died, it helped her was her excuse.

She picked up the trinket and put it back on the bedside table exactly as it had been. Throwing her shirt back on she stared out of the window at the bay, it was sparkling in the morning sun, something it hadn't seemed to do since Charly's death.

'Terra,' Robin's voice spilled from the communicator on the table nearby, he sounded frantic, 'You really need to get down to the common room. Now.' The comm. shut off, leaving Terra plunged into a tense silence. What could the problem be? Why had Robin sounded confused and amazed? She threw on the rest of her attire and sprinted out of the room.

'What's the matter, guys?' She skidded up to the point where the Titans were assembled, staring at the screen.

'There was an intruder on the island last night.' Robin said simply.

That couldn't be, surely an intruder would set off the alarms? Terra though rapidly about scenarios that would precipitate a fall in Cyborg's painstakingly thought up defences for their home. There were none.

'There's some video footage.' Beast Boy said quietly, his eyes seemed to have glazed over.

Robin punched in a sequence and the security video started.

Nothing but blackness, a black figure moving in darkness. Until it looked at the camera, red eyes gleaming through the gloom. Terra gasped, raising a hand to her mouth in surprise. The figure drew closer to the camera and was seen to be trying the door to the tower. When it didn't open the figure turned back to the camera and waved a hand in the air then vanished.

That wasn't the weirdest thing however, the weirdest thing was the message that had been left where the figures hand had passed through the air:

'Dudes, my key doesn't work anymore. C.'

All eyes fell on Terra as she struggled to comprehend what had happened. She was about to say something when a chime echoed through the tower. The doorbell, though nothing was displayed on the surveillance screen.

The Titans assembled round the door and Robin opened it a crack to peer out. Nothing.

He threw the door to the side and they all peered out, expecting…something.

'I was wondering if you'd like to buy some cookies?' A familiar voice floated into the tower.

The strange figure from the night before stepped round the doorframe with a beaming grin plastered on his face.

'What?' Charly asked cheerfully of the staring faces confronting him, 'Something on my face?'

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Titans stood around the common room while their old, supposedly dead, friend practically ate them out of house and home.

'Resurrection makes a guy hungry, y'know?' He said through a mouthful of tofu.

Robin shook his head to rid himself of cobwebs and stared hard at the British boy in front of him, seemingly trying to fathom whether he was real or not.

'You're supposed to be dead.' He said finally.

Charly stopped, placed the food he was carrying on to the counter and turned to Robin with a fearful look in his eyes.

'I am?' He asked, before promptly vanishing in a plume of red smoke.

He reappeared a moment later with an even bigger grin on his face.

'Yeah, I know. It's a short but very confusing story.' He explained before turning to Terra. 'So, who's this beautiful young lady?' He asked with a stylish bow. 'Nah, I'm kidding, I remember everything. You haven't even said hello yet, though.' He told her.

She simply stared at him for a moment as his smile faded, looking deep into her eyes. She practically tackled him to the ground in a desperate embrace and pulled him into a passionate kiss.

'It is you, I knew you hadn't left me, I could feel it.' They turned back to the others, Charly's arm round her shoulders, Terra with eyes blurry with tears of joy.

'I left you guys enough clues. The notes, the fireballs in the storm. That whole 'He's not back there' gardener bit that I stole from the bible.' Charly watched as pieces fell into place in the Titan's minds.

'Let me explain what happened,' He began, 'First I got shot. Painful, I might add. I turned in time to be shot again. More painful. Then we spoke, I died, my spirit lingered then vanished, as far as you knew that was it. For me, well, I awoke…somewhere…where I was talked to by…'

------------------------------------------------------------

'What d'you think he…she…it meant when it said you weren't finished?' Robin was enthralled by the story as the other Titans were. Beast Boy had even stopped him to go get popcorn.

The story was obviously helped no end by the little fire TV he made to show the situation as well as telling them about it.

'Dunno, I think that perhaps they decided that my life had too much potential to just end there. Truthfully, I agree.' Charly grinned at Terra, who had finally let go of him.

'That is possibly the weirdest thing that has happened to any of us, and we're super powered teenagers who live in a giant letter.' Raven pointed out.

Charly flashed her a look and decided to take a stab.

'Can't be any weirder than everyone thinking you're dead when in fact you're actually a child version of yourself who then ages through the power of voodoo or whatever.' He shot, his smile taking on Cheshire cat proportions.

Raven was about to make an acid tongued retort when she decided against it.

'You deserve that one, since you just got back… from the dead.' She ended rather lamely.

Charly looked around his friends, seated as they had been so many times before and smiled contentedly.

'_Could I have dealt with being dead? Away from these guys?'_ He thought.

'You didn't remember them, remember?' Wisdom butted in.

'_You need to shut up.'_ He retorted happily, finally the voices in his head were back.

'You know guys, I'm so glad I'm back I could die.' He joked, eliciting a small laugh from everyone.

For a while they simply sat, Charly enjoying the company of his friends and vice versa. Despite the strange situation, which they'd have to explain to the public, they were, for the time being at least, blissfully happy.

'I'm tired, I'm gonna go to bed.' Terra stood and yawned.

Cyborg took his chance.

'Charly, are you going with her?' He grinned.

Charly grinned bigger than he had all day.

'Oh, hell yes.'

**The End.**

**Thank you guys so much for sticking with me through this.  
We've had good times, we've had bad. We've laughed, we've (almost) cried.**

**You people have made me much more confidant in my writing too. So thanks for that.  
Really, thank you all so much.**

**Remember, we've got the sequel to look forward to, though I'm still not sure about a proper storyline. It'll come in time.**

**For now, the last time I'll write this on this story:**

**Reamis, out.**


	31. Reader Poll

**So I'm back here, said I wouldn't be but I am.**

** This is a poll concerning the plotline of the sequel to this very story, so I'll go right into it rather than gilding the lily.**

** Please review or message me with A or B or whatever.**

**Which of these should I do?**

**A. The Titans are slightly older now, so we've got the disbanded team, some members taken on in the JL, Robin is Nightwing now and all that jazz. Basically an extension of the first part, branched out into new horizons and encompassing more stuff. (I really like this one.)  
**

**or (and I also like this one, though slightly less)  
**

**B. The original team are retired, old enough to have their own teenage kids who are the New Titans. (the plot for this one is a little more straightfoward, but a little less ambitious, not to sway your vote either way or anything.) The New Titans face their own challenges, some of which are caused by their (seemingly) overbearing parents. Eventually they face a problem they can't overcome on their own and the original team is called out of retirement to help.**

**So yeah, the second one is slightly more developed, plotwise, but that's because I've technically already started it but then I had idea A, which I might write anyway.**

**Please know that I don't mind which one you guys choose, I like them both. What might happen is even though you've voted I can't decide and as such write both, one as the sequel and one as an AU or side project. or the sequel's sequel but written at the same time.**

**Oh great, I just had the idea to do a prequel as well, fantastic, just what I need; more great ideas to clog up my head. I have exams soon! Grrr.**

**So yeah, thanks for your input in advance guys.**

**Reamis. **


End file.
